The traditional Chinese diet takes vegetables and fruits as the main food. The staple food is the five cereals, and the dietary supplement is meat, fish and poultry. Tea is also an important component. Another characteristic is to take hot food and cooked food as the staple.

    The Chinese diet has a long history and can be traced to the ancient legend "Shennong Tastes a Hundred Grasses" which shows that early in remote antiquity the Chinese have begun to explore the function of food. Shennong is venerated as the father of Chinese medicine and lived some 5,000 years ago.

    Nowadays, as China's integration into the world economy accelerates, western food has grown from a small novelty into an emerging industry in China, with fast food such as McDonald's and KFC prevalent.

    As a result, many Chinese especially the youth fail to pay enough attention to the traditional diet. In recent times, it is believed by many researchers that the study on Chinese diet could contribute to an overall better understanding of how dietary means could be adopted to help prevent heart disease in Westernized Chinese and westerners.

    Through careful studies, scientists have begun to be aware of the negative influence of western food and the heart-protecting effects of the Chinese traditional diet. In a study, Kam S. Woo, professor and consultant cardiologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has established some link between conforming to the Chinese traditional diet custom and the low incidence of getting heart disease, and has called for the recognition of the protective effects of this diet.

    Woo's study reveals that Pan Yu, a town in Guangdong Province in southern China, where the traditional Chinese diet of vegetables, rice and green tea is emphasized, boasts the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.