A doctor who claimed he could cure Aids and ME by changing a patient's diet and making a potion from their blood has been struck off.

Dr Michael Kirkman made a series of outrageous boasts about his findings, even claiming he could improve the performance of Olympic athletes.

He said his nutrition supplements could stop tumours from growing, would help sufferers of arthritis and cystic fibrosis, and could even spot disease before any symptoms could appear.

But in reality some of his 'medication' bordered on dangerous and could have caused kidney failure, the General Medical Council was told.

The council found Dr Kirkman, 64, of Eversfield Place, St Leonards, guilty of serious professional misconduct and ordered that he should be struck off the medical register.

It also decided he should be suspended from practice immediately for the safety of patients.

GMC professional conduct committee chairman Rodney Yates said the doctor had offered to provide members of the public, including patients with Aids, with a treatment that had no medical foundation.

He said: "Recommending it was unreliable, misleading and potentially dangerous."

In 1994, the doctor had been a medical consultant for Signalysis which promoted an alternative medicine based on using the patient's urine and blood combined with herbal extracts.

Mr Yates said: "The company claimed this therapy was an effective treatment for, amongst other illnesses, ME.

"There was no, or no sufficient, authoritative medical research to establish the value of this therapy and such claims were thereby unjustified".

Dr Kirkman, who denied serious professional misconduct but did not attend the hearing, has 28 days to appeal.