THE secret to fighting heart disease was revealed by experts last night.

Just a handful of lifestyle changes could save tens of thousands of lives a year.

Taking more exercise, eating more fruit and vegetables, reducing alcohol intake and slashing the amount of saturated fat in our diet could drastically reduce the toll of Britain’s biggest killer and save the NHS up to £3billion a year.

The healthy living plan, devised by charity HEART UK, could slash the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood by up to a third. Bad cholesterol is a fatty substance that clogs up arteries and can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

The organisation’s chief executive Jules Payne said: “Two out of three UK adults have unnecessarily high cholesterol levels, which can so easily be reduced.

“We know people often find diets difficult to stick to but this is more of a general lifestyle plan. It is flexible, easy to follow and can have dramatic results.”

The first step in the Ultimate Cholesterol Lowering Plan is to cut out unhealthy foods that are high in fat and sugar.

Reducing intake of saturated animal fats to around 20g a day has been shown to cut cholesterol by up to 10 per cent. Eating more fruit and vegetables can also lower cholesterol, while eating oily fish will help prevent blood clots from forming.

The plan also offers a “pick ’n’ mix” choice of four cholesterol-busting foods to add to your daily diet.

These are foods made from soya, such as soya milk; foods containing health-boosting plant sterols, such as vege­table spreads; nuts; and soluble fibre from oats, wholegrains, beans and pulses.

Each of these four foods will lower cholesterol by an average of five per cent and the more foods added to the diet, the bigger the cholesterol reduction.

Ms Payne said: “If someone followed this plan fully they could see their bad cholesterol levels lowered by up to 35 per cent.

“The more steps followed, the greater the cholesterol-lowering effect and the greater the reduction in risk of suffering from heart disease. High cholesterol is fuelling Britain’s high instances of heart disease and if we want to tackle this and save thousands of lives every year then people need to take responsibility for their heart health and take steps to get healthy, cut their cholesterol and cut their risk of an early death.”

Previous research has shown eating sensibly means you are 40 per cent less likely to die early than if you regularly consume foods high in fat or sugar.

With vaccines and drugs able to cure most infectious diseases, scientists say the biggest killers have become conditions, such as heart disease, which are triggered by our lifestyle.

And number one on their list of bad habits is a poor diet and drinking too much alcohol.

Too much body fat, particularly around the waist, and not taking enough exercise also lead to health problems.

The obesity epidemic is widespread among children and experts warn the youth of today will be the first generation to die at a younger age than their parents.