Tine van der Maas -- who was a nurse for nine months 15 years ago and then conjured up a controversial diet of beetroot, spinach, garlic, and olive oil by reading books and Internet articles -- told The Star daily she was ready to face the consequences if she was proved to be a fraud.

"You don't need anti-retrovirals if you are eating these foods," van der Maas said.

"I'm not a quack. If I am, expose me and put me in jail and lock me up. I would be giving people false hopes, and that is the most horrendous thing to do."

Van der Maas said some 42,000 people followed her diet and claimed she had the blessing of the health minister.

"She's (the health minister) always quoting me the whole time," van der Maas said.

The diet consists of a blended or grated lemon mixed with olive oil and water, crushed garlic, small pieces of ginger, spinach, beetroot, vitamin supplements and extracts from the African potato.

The Star on Friday quoted Tshabalala-Msimang, a qualified medical doctor, as saying that she had met more than 100 patients "who have got up and walked" after following van der Maas' diet.

"Nobody is saying that this diet cures HIV. All we are saying is that it boosts the immune system. I've seen the results with my own eyes. There's no doubt in my mind that it works."

Doctors who had been initially sceptical had "really embraced the programme," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

Two of van der Maas' patients interviewed by The Star said there had been a marked improvement in their health.

The UN's AIDS agency estimates that South Africa had 5.3 million people infected with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2002 -- the highest number in the world.

A leading local medical journal in November slated the diet promoted by the health minister, saying that there was no convincing evidence that any of the foods proposed by Tshabalala-Msimang would change the way people were affected by the illness.

In November, South Africa's cabinet approved the outline of a plan to provide potentially life-saving anti-retroviral drugs for those infected with HIV/AIDS, after several court battles between the government and AIDS lobby groups.

TERRA.WIRE