Food experts are heading to Bradford's Sikh and Hindu temples to show worshippers how to cook healthier meals.

It is part of a British Heart Foundation (BHF) project to persuade South Asians living in the UK to use spices and other ingredients instead of salt and ghee.

The heart charity is teaming up with the Food Standards Agency to send in dieticians who will show volunteer cooks at the city's Sikh Gurdwaras and Hindu Mandirs how to serve up healthy food on a large scale to congregation members.

Dates are being fixed for the Bradford part of the project but a BHF spokesman said: "Dieticians will be going in to about five or six of the city's temples, there won't be a launch as such, they'll just be getting on with giving out advice." Achhar Dharni, chairman of trustees at Bradford's Hindu Cultural Society said: "That will be very nice. I'm sure their help will be welcomed."

Information sessions will also be offered to congregation members in English, Hindi and Punjabi looking at making healthy lifestyle choices and how to understand food labelling.

Too much salt increases blood pressure and saturated fats like ghee can shoot up cholesterol levels and can contribute to heart disease, research has shown.

According to the BHF, 90 per cent of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women say they add salt when cooking, compared to 56 per cent of men and 53 per cent of women in the general UK population.

Professor Jaspal Singh Kooner, Cardiologist and member of BHF's Ethnic Strategy Committee, said: "The burden of heart disease on South Asian communities is very worrying. It's great to see the BHF embarking on innovative projects like this which can have a real impact."

Dr Louis Levy at the FSA said: "Most of us are eating too much salt, which is why the FSA has been running a national public health campaign to encourage people to cut down."

As well as in Bradford, the heart charity's Healthier Social Cooking project will run in London and Birmingham.