due to coronary heart disease in 2010, which will mean that the effects of advances in cardiovascular medicine "stuck" as people "keep getting fatter"

For Simon Capewell, one of the authors of the study, half the expected deaths could be avoided if people eat more healthy and stopped smoking.

Since the '70s, rates of deaths from these diseases have declined by half, thanks to reductions in cholesterol, snuff and increased physical activity, noted the report.

However, since the 90's, these gains have slowed due to the rebound "dramatic" of obesity and therefore diabetes, as well as by higher blood pressure in women.