ATLANTA, Nov 08 (Reuters Health) -- Western influences on the Chinese diet -- namely more meat and dairy products, and less vegetables and green tea -- may increase the risk of heart disease in people of Chinese origin, a Hong Kong investigator told attendees at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association on Monday.
Using high resolution ultrasound, Dr. Kam S. Woo of Chinese University in Hong Kong and colleagues measured carotid wall thickness -- the thickness of the wall of a neck artery that supplies blood to the brain -- in residents of Pan Yu, China; Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia; and San Francisco, California. The thicker the wall, the more advanced the case of arterial disease.
Residents of rural Pan Yu, where the incidence of heart attack is among the lowest in the world, had the thinnest carotid artery walls, at 0.5 mm. In contrast, westernized Chinese in Hong Kong and Sydney had wall thicknesses of 0.56 mm, while Chinese in San Francisco had an average wall thickness of 0.63 mm. Woo said that wall thickness was 25% greater in US-born San Franciscans than in their relatives who had been born in China.
"There was a marked difference in diets," Woo reported. Pan Yu residents had the lowest intake of animal protein, while San Franciscans had the highest. Dairy product intake was 25 times greater in the San Francisco group than in the Pan Yu residents, while Pan Yuans drank about 6 times more green tea than Chinese in San Francisco.
Woo said that not only are the components of the traditional Chinese diet healthier for the heart, but the Chinese method of preparation, by steaming and stir frying, is better than deep frying, which is the preferred method of fast-food artists in the US.
