Singer Lily Allen says she was diagnosed with a heart murmur about three months ago.

The Brit, 22 — who dropped from a UK size 12 to a size eight in six weeks — told Grazia magazine her sudden weight loss is the result of exercise following the health scare, not because she wanted to be "some skinny minnie.

"I used to love nothing more than sitting in front of the telly with two packets of Ginger Nuts and two bags of milk-bottle sweets — and I'd devour the lot," she told Grazia.

"But this heart thing has made me cut back on all that kind of crap," she added. "I now find that, because I am looking after myself, I don't feel like eating the bad stuff so much."

Though she's put boozing on the backburner, she admitted, "I should also give up smoking, but haven't quite managed that yet."

A heart murmur is often harmless but can also indicate a hole in the heart or a heart valve problem.