"Cholesterol needs to be addressed with the same vigilance as other heart disease risk factors," he said.

"People need to use every doctor visit as an opportunity to discuss cholesterol. If you don't know your target level, ask - these steps could ultimately lower your risk of heart disease and death."

Professor Leif Erhardt, a heart specialist at Malmo University Hospital in Sweden, said: "While other risk factors such as blood pressure and smoking have been the focus of more public attention, it has been widely proven that cholesterol is strongly linked to heart disease.

"We must now turn our attention to increase patients' understanding of this link to improve cholesterol management."

Good and bad

Cholesterol comes in two forms - good or bad. High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is essential to good health, while excessive amounts of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol can cause plaques to line the arteries, leading to dangerous blockages.

In Europe, heart disease accounts for about 40% of deaths, and specialists say that about half of these are related to the build-up of such plaques.

However, the REACT study - which questioned 40- to 70-year-olds - found that 80% were "unconcerned" about their cholesterol levels.

Three-quarters knew nothing of the difference between good and bad cholesterol, while only 49% knew that high cholesterol levels increased the risk of heart disease - even then, they required prompting.

General risks

However, most realised that smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and stress were all risk factors.

Total cholesterol levels should be less than 190 mg per 100ml of blood and no more than 115mg of this should be bad cholesterol, according to medical guidelines.

However, 75% of the UK's heart disease patients have totals higher than 200mg - the largest proportion in Europe.