Do you want to live until you are 100?

Here are 7 simple steps that should help you reach the age 100.

Maintaining a healthy diet is one of the most important factors for living a longer life.

Many people could live to the age of 100 by following seven simple steps, according to a leading heart doctor.

Dr Clyde Yancy, a Canadian cardiologist says changes to lifestyle such as keeping a healthy weight, not smoking and controlling your cholesterol levels are an easy way to add an extra decade or more to your life span.

He said 90 per cent of people could live to the age of 90 and even reach 100 by following his advice. The other steps are regulating blood pressure, managing diabetes, eating a healthy diet and getting active.

These steps could also save billions of pounds for the NHS by reducing Britain’s biggest killer, heart disease, and the rising levels of type 2 diabetes associated with obesity.

‘Achieving these seven simple lifestyle factors gives people a 90 per cent chance of living to the age of 90 or 100, free of not only heart disease and stroke but from a number of other chronic illnesses including cancer’.

Dr Yancy is a professor of medicine and chief cardiologist at the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Dr Yancy said that less than 1 in 10 Americans follow the seven steps.

The number is thought to be slightly higher in Britain as our obesity levels are lower but still the highest in Europe with two-thirds of adults now overweight and a quarter are clinically obese.

There are nearly 2.7m people living with heart disease in the UK and it kills one in five men and one in seven women – equivalent to 250 deaths every day.

Around 200,000 people die each year from conditions related to circulation, including strokes, heart attacks and heart disease, costing the NHS £30bn a year.

The risks of all these could be reduced by controlling high blood pressure, which is known as the ‘silent killer’ because it has no symptoms.

The 7 important lifestyle changes:

1. GET ACTIVE: Inactivity can shave almost four years off a person's expected lifespan. People who are physically inactive are twice as likely to be at risk for heart disease or stroke.

2. KNOW AND CONTROL CHOLESTEROL LEVELS: High blood cholesterol can lead to the build up of fatty deposits in your arteries - increasing your risk for heart disease and stroke.

3. FOLLOW A HEALTHY DIET: Eating a healthy diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables is one of the most important things you can do to improve your health.

4. KNOW AND CONTROL BLOOD PRESSURE: High blood pressure is often called a 'silent killer' because it has no warning signs or symptoms. By knowing and controlling your blood pressure, you can cut your risk of stroke by up to 40 per cent and the risk of heart attack by up to 25 per cent.

5. ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WEIGHT: Almost two thirds of Britons are either overweight or obese - major risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Being obese can reduce your life span by almost four years.

6. MANAGE DIABETES: Diabetes increases the risk of high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries), coronary artery disease, and stroke, particularly if your blood sugar levels are poorly controlled.

7. BE TOBACCO FREE: Half of all long-term smokers die early from smoking-related diseases, including heart disease, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. As soon as you become smoke-free, your risk of heart disease and stroke begins to decrease. After 15 years, your risk will be nearly that of a non-smoker. 

Dr Yancy said physical inactivity can shave almost four years off the expected lifespan and it should be combined with a healthy diet.

Studies suggest only a third of British adults eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, and more than a third regularly exceed guidelines for alcohol intake.

However he added there was hope of reversing the rising tide of health problems saying: ‘The opportunity for prevention is not an unrealistic expectation. Over the past 40 years the rates of heart disease and stroke have steadily declined.’

Average life expectancy in the UK is now 77.9 years for men and 82 for women.

More people than ever are already reaching the age of 100. An estimated 12,640 pensioners are centenarians, five times as many as in 1980 according to the Office for National Statistics.