China is facing a sharp increase in heart and brain illnesses and the situation is rapidly getting worse, one of the country's leading doctors has warned.

An unhealthier diet and less exercise have resulted in more Chinese suffering from illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, said Hu Dayi, a member of the Chinese Medical Association specializing in heart disease, and head of the Medical School of Shanghai's Tongji University.

He said 2.6 million Chinese died of heart and brain diseases every year, an average daily death rate of more than 7,000. The top dangers were high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and smoking, he told a press conference in Beijing.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the only significant danger was high blood pressure, but in recent decades Chinese diets had changed from mainly grains and vegetables to foods containing high proportions of fat, protein and calories.

Moreover, modern lifestyles involving cars, television and computers resulted in less physical exercise and more overweight people, directly leading to more cases of obesity and diabetes, Hu said.

The World Health Organization estimates China's diabetes cases will double by 2020 and the country will have the world's second highest rate of diabetes. More alarmingly, the incidence high cholesterol had doubled by the end of the 1990s compared with the early 1980s, affecting every age group. Those suffering from both high blood pressure and high cholesterol faced a double risk of myocardial infarction and stroke.

The government needed a long-term health strategy, said Hu. People over the age of 35 should have their blood pressure checked whenever they went to a doctor with any complaint, which was a rule set by the Ministry of Health and needed to be better implemented.

Meanwhile, education on high blood pressure needed to be given to communities and companies to raise public awareness with assistance from the media, business, academic groups and government departments.

Hu also called for improved exchanges and coordination among medical branches to provide more comprehensive treatment for heart and brain disease patients.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2006)