Chinese people on a traditional diet are healthier than those eating Western-style food - even though they smoke more, a local expert has told heart specialists in the United States.
Cardiologist Dr Woo Kam-sang of the Chinese University said a diet packed with rice, stir-fried vegetables and green tea was instrumental in the low rate of heart disease on the mainland.
But when Chinese moved abroad and slowly began to Westernise their food intake with extra meat and dairy products, the walls of their arteries thickened in a symptom of early heart disease.
Dr Woo compared the diets of people in Panyu, Guangdong, which has one of the world's lowest rates of heart disease, with Chinese living in Hong Kong, Sydney and San Francisco.
He told an American Heart Association meeting in Atlanta that the artery walls of Westernised Chinese, who had lived away from the mainland for 10 years or more, were one-fifth thicker than those of Panyu residents.
'Both Chinese and non-Chinese should recognise the potential effects of the traditional Chinese diet,' he said.
'They should think about drinking more green tea, eating more vegetables and eating less meat and dairy products.' Dr Woo said the evidence in favour of the Chinese diet came despite the fact that smoking is far more prevalent in Chinese culture than in the Western world.