by MARK PRIGG, Evening Standard

Move over Atkins, the gorilla diet could soon be taking the world by storm.

Researchers have discovered that following a primitive ape-like regime reduces cholesterol by up to 30 per cent in a month, putting it on a par with the best drugs on the market.

Nutritionists have described the new diet as "near perfect", claiming that as well as cutting cholesterol it also leaves its followers satisfied after a meal.

Its key components are plant sterols, found in plant oils, leafy greens and enriched margarines, along with viscous fibre, common in oats, barley and aubergine, and finally soy protein and nuts.

Research carried out at the University of Toronto showed that feeding volunteers exactly the same food and quantities an ape would eat would not work, so created a range of meals using the same raw ingredients.

A typical human meal on the ape regime would consist of tofu bake with a ratatouille of aubergine, onions and sweet pepper, with pearl barley and vegetable side dishes.

Nutritionist Natalie Savona believes the diet, as well as lowering cholesterol, has several other benefits. "An apelike diet contains a lot of fibre, far more than any other diet, and that helps the gut process food and do its job properly.

"It would also help regulate blood sugar levels, as you're not getting a huge sugar boost at every meal. It's almost perfect, in fact, the only addition some people might like to make is a small amount of fish or lean meat."

David Jenkins, a vascular biologist at the University of Toronto who led the study, believes the foods used are widely accepted to have cholesterol lowering properties, but haven't been combined in a diet before.

"What we did was put them all together. We thought maybe they would cancel each other out, but actually all the cholesterol - reducing

properties added up,î he explained. Professor Jenkins believes that as humans and apes are so similar, we may be evolutionarily adapted to the diet.

The study used 46 people on three different regimes. After four weeks, levels of cholesterol had plummeted by almost 30 per cent for those on the ape diet, with a similar result for those taking lovastatin, an anti-cholesterol drug.

A control group put on a standard low-fat diet found levels dropped by just eight per cent.

Professor Jenkins claims the results could point to a tendency for doctors to prescribe drugs too early. "What we showed is in many cases perhaps people are not giving diet a chance before being prescribed drugs. As we get older we tend to get raised cholesterol.

"This shows people now have a dietary alternative to drugs.î

While the ape diet was a complete success, patients did complain they actually had to eat too much food to avoid losing weight.

A new report has found folic acid and vitamin B12 taken together can help cut the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Researchers found levels of homocysteine concentrations, which can cause cardiovascular disease, were lowered in patients taking the combination vitamins.