A claim for almost £160,000 has been made against an airline which allegedly lost specimens from a heart research project which carried out in Scotland

The samples, from patients in Lewis and Skye, went missing en route to Osaka in Japan after being flown to Zurich by Swissair.

Researchers on the World Health Organisation-backed Mona Lisa programme said the losses were a serious setback.

The scientists, who were working on the project to improve heart disease prevention in Scotland and further afield, say the samples will have to be re-taken and the airline should foot the bill.

The UK co-ordinator of the project, Dr Christopher Birt, says the sums being claimed will not even include the salaries of the scientists involved.

He added the money will be used simply to re-run the tests.

The programme was designed to test food supplements - including soya bean extracts and vegetable fibres - which seem to reduce the likelihood of heart attacks.

Disappeared en route

Patients in Skye and Lewis were recruited in July to try the foods and the samples were due to fly from Scotland to the testing labs at Kyoto in Japan in November.

As many as 200 Skye islanders took part in the trial and were required to eat products such as tofu for one month.

The health experts believe that, in line with similar successful tests on Masai warriors and Tibetan mountain people, they can reduce cholesterol levels in a matter of weeks.

Skye was chosen as a study centre after initial research in the nearby Western Isles found the area had the second highest cholesterol level out of 60 selected sites worldwide.

No one from Swisscargo was available for comment.