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(NaturalNews) Nine human beings in Devon aged 36 to 49, agreed to eat like apes in order to discover if their health improved. The experiment, which was filmed for television, was intended to show what happens when people abandon a modern diet filled with processed foods for one similar to that of our ancestors.

The diet, called the "Evo Diet," is based on the idea that our bodies have evolved to eat a raw plant-based diet similar to apes, since they are biologically closest to humans. Past research has shown that this sort of diet has beneficial effects on cholesterol and blood pressure, and the purpose of this experiment was to gain further evidence.

In the first week of the 12-day study, the nine volunteers ate a daily meal of water and about 11 pounds of honey, hazelnuts and fresh fruits and vegetables like watercress, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, radishes, strawberries, melons, mangoes, apricots, bananas, plums, figs and Satsuma mandarins. During the second week, the diet was adapted to mimic that of hunter-gatherers with portions of cooked, oily fish.

One participant, 36-year-old Jon Thornton, began the study weighing in at nearly 265 pounds, but by the end of the experiment had lowered his blood pressure, dropped 12.5 pounds, and reduced his bad cholesterol by 20 percent. Thornton's diet before the trial consisted of bacon, sausage and egg sandwiches or deep-fried fish and chips. He nearly left the experiment when he realized it consisted of mainly fruit and vegetables, but he stuck it out with no adverse effects from the change.

Since the experiment ended, Thornton reported that his knee pain when playing football has completely disappeared and he managed to stick to his healthy habits during Christmas.

The Evo Diet was plentiful, most of the participants did not finish their entire daily food ration. Once withdrawal symptoms of certain foods and caffeinated beverages passed, the participants were generally happy and energetic.

The overall cholesterol drop for the entire group was 23 percent, which is a number that scientists have only attained through use of statin drugs in the past. The average blood pressure level of the group bordered on hypertension at 140/83 at the beginning of the trial, but it had been reduced to 122/76 after the 12 days were up. The average salt intake was double the recommended 6 grams per day, but ended up at 1 gram when the trial had finished. The group lost an average total of 9.7 pounds, despite the fact that weight loss was not a goal for the experiment.

The experiment shows that we humans need fruit and vegetable in order to enjoy and healthy life, that is the way the our bodies have evolved.

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