--- ---  # ‘EastDiet’ — a homegrown way to better health  _Consumers select fresh vegetables at a supermarket in Linyi, Shandong province, in December. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY_ By LI YINGXUE At neighborhood markets in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, summer mornings begin long before the city has fully woken. Stalls brim with freshly harvested lotus seed pods, leafy greens glistening with dew, seasonal mushrooms, freshwater fish from nearby rivers and ponds, and tofu and vegetables that have long been staples of local kitchens. For generations, these foods have simply been part of everyday life in the eastern coastal region south of the Yangtze River. They were never marketed as “superfoods” or assembled according to a scientifically designed nutrition plan. Rather, they emerged naturally from a landscape rich in waterways, fertile farmland and a deep respect for the seasonal availability of produce. Now, modern science is looking at whether this traditional way of eating may offer important lessons for the future of public health. A study recently published in Nature Health has identified what researchers call the “EastDiet” — an eating pattern associated with lower risks of obesity and cardiovascular disease and rooted in the food traditions of China’s eastern coastal region. Led by Professor Zhu Shankuan at Zhejiang University’s School of Public Health, the study was conducted in collaboration with the National Institute for Nutrition and Health under the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Nutrilite Health Institute. The findings suggest that people who adhere to this diet have a roughly 22% lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, and a 17% lower risk of central obesity. Among men, the protective effect was even stronger, with cardiovascular risk reduced by as much as 36%. What makes the discovery even more interesting is that the EastDiet was not created in a laboratory or developed as a meal plan. Instead, researchers identified it by analyzing the eating habits of thousands of ordinary people. The study seeks to answer an increasingly important question: beyond the Mediterranean diet, is there a healthy diet deeply rooted in Chinese culture and lifestyle that can also be validated by modern science? The study drew on the WELL-China cohort, which recruited nearly 10,000 residents from three urban districts of Hangzhou between 2016 and 2019\. Researchers followed 8,931 healthy adults for an average of 6.3 years. Rather than deciding in advance which foods were healthy, the team employed an unsupervised clustering approach, allowing patterns to emerge naturally from data based on the consumption of 22 food groups. Two major dietary patterns surfaced. Nearly 46.8% of participants fell into one distinct cluster, which researchers named the EastDiet. The pattern was characterized by higher consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, dairy products and eggs; greater intake of seafood and freshwater fish; more soy products, mushrooms and starchy root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, taro and lotus root; and lower consumption of refined grains, fried foods, red meat, processed meat and alcohol. Yu Bin, founder of the Michelin two-star restaurant Jie Xiang Lou in Hangzhou, said this is hardly surprising. The diet, he said, was shaped not by health-conscious planning but by geography and generations of accumulated culinary wisdom. “Hangzhou places tremendous emphasis on _terroir_ (the combination of soil, climate, and sunlight) and seasonal freshness,” Yu said. This seasonal rhythm naturally increases dietary diversity, a characteristic increasingly recognized by nutrition researchers as a hallmark of healthy eating. The region’s dense network of rivers and lakes has also shaped its protein sources. Unlike many regions where livestock has historically dominated the dinner table, freshwater fish, shrimp and other aquatic products have long played a central role in local diets. Soy products such as tofu, dried bean curd and tofu sheets further diversify protein intake. The study also uncovered a culturally intriguing feature: people adhering to the EastDiet generally preferred lighter flavors. For many consumers accustomed to heavily seasoned food, “light” flavors are often associated with blandness. “People should be able to taste the ingredient itself,” Yu said. “Freshness comes from the ingredient. Seasoning should be restrained.” This philosophy has long shaped Hangzhou cuisine, where steaming, braising, poaching and gentle simmering are widely used to highlight natural flavors rather than mask them. To determine whether the EastDiet was unique to Hangzhou, researchers subsequently validated the findings in an independent cohort spanning multiple Chinese cities. The results were strikingly consistent. Both the dietary pattern itself and its association with lower risks of central obesity were replicated across the validation cohort. The findings suggest that the EastDiet may represent more than a regional eating habit. It could serve as the foundation for a broader Chinese framework for healthy eating. It is a rediscovery of a way of eating that has existed for generations — one that modern science is only now beginning to measure, understand and validate. As dietary habits around the world become increasingly homogenized and chronic diseases continue to rise, the evidence emerging from China’s own dining tables may offer a new vision of healthy eating for the future. [](ttps://www.chinadaily.com.cn/) ## China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World Since its launch in 1981, China Daily has grown to become the nation’s leading English-language newspaper. 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