When it comes to diet, it’s good to be healthy, but better to be wise
Print Edition
SINCE undergoing surgery on a digestive tract problem two years ago, 58-year-old Jiang Meiling has become a devotee of health-maintenance fads.
She collects a lot of advice about the subject from TV shows, books and social media. She believes what she is told.
After a TV health show warned against the dangers of eating red meat, Jiang imposed a vegetarian diet on her family.
“The expert said that too much beef, mutton and pork may lead to problems like high blood pressure, high blood fat and even colon cancer,” said Jiang, “I have suffered digestive problems in the past. I want to protect my family from having to endure that.”
Her family wasn’t exactly thrilled about going vegetarian.
“All the meat is gone from our meals,” her daughter lamented. “I always feel hungry eating only vegetables. Sometimes I have to sneak out for late-night snacks.”
Yang sheng, or “health maintenance,” is part of traditional Chinese medicine. It is especially popular among the middle-aged and elderly.
Though the concept originally referred to strengthening the body, preventing disease and prolonging life through Taoist practices, today it has taken on a more general sense. People who maintain healthy lifestyles are likely to lead happier lives.
Those seeking to improve their health often rely on “expert” opinions promoted on TV and in books, newspapers and social media.
Jiang’s WeChat social media file is full of articles with eye-catching headlines like: “Ten fruits to help you prolong your 30 life years” or “the longevity secrets of a 110-year-old monk.”
Spurred on by all the advice, Jiang concocts juices made from vegetables and fruit. She makes cakes from bean dregs or coarse grains. When her daughter complains about the awful taste of some of these foods, Jiang reminds her that “good medicine tastes bitter.”
The worry in all this is that sources of information on healthy lifestyle may not always be reliable or even factual, and some devotees may take recommendations too literally.
Zhang Wuben, a self-proclaimed health-maintenance expert, won fame and popularity after promoting his theory about “curing diseases by eating” on a TV program in 2010.
He became a frequent guest on various TV health shows, claiming that a diet heavy in foods like green beans and eggplant would cure problems like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. His book on the subject was a best-seller, and a clinic he opened charged clients 2,000 yuan (US$308) each.
In the end, Zhang, who had no qualifications in nutrition or health, was exposed as an opportunist. His downfall came after reports of a 64-year-old in Shandong Province who followed Zhang’s food therapy to cure his diabetes. Every day the man juiced and drank 500 grams of green beans, combined with licorice and water. He began vomiting on the second day of the diet and after two weeks, he was rushed to hospital.
According to Dr Xu Chengjiang, who treated the man, licorice is a common herb in Chinese traditional medicine but it can lead to deleterious side-effects if not taken properly. He said the diet had left his patient at great risk of a heart attack.
Dr Jiang Zaifeng, a registered traditional Chinese medicine physician based in Hong Kong, said it is true that a diet too heavy in protein and fat may be bad for your health, but that doesn’t mean eating only vegetables is good for you. Sufficient supplies of protein and fat are important for many body functions, including the immune system.
Eating pumpkin and celery can help decrease blood sugar. Eating fungus can help prevent blood clots. Eating coarse grains can help bowel movements. Jiang can recite all headline claims of healthy foods. But that doesn’t mean a diet should be narrowly confined to certain things.
Eliminating fat, oil or cholesterol may create a lack of necessary aliphatic acid that supports the functioning of the brain, nerves and immune system.
“Balance is the golden rule for health maintenance,” said Xiao Shuyun, chief physician of the Geriatrics Department at Yueyang Hospital, attached to the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. “Advice on recommended foods from TV ‘experts’ or other sources should be adapted to the basic principles of a balanced diet.”
Chen Daye, a 68-year-old retiree in Hubei Province, began eating only one meal of vegetables a day for a month, after attending a lecture advocating a “hunger health-maintenance therapy.” The lecturer said being hungry would boost a longevity gene in the body and help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Weeks later, Chen developed symptoms of edema and was diagnosed with malnutrition.
Dr Jiang said hunger does help dispel toxins in the body and even helps control blood fat and blood pressure to some extent, but it does not promote longevity genes. Hunger-therapy is especially dangerous to growing children, women in menopause, old people and patients with tumors or diabetes, the doctor added.
Liao Xinbo, an official at the Guangdong Health Bureau, said improving public health is important, but people need to be careful about the advice they follow.
“It would be a sad day if everything that appears online or on TV is taken as gospel truth,” he said. “People need to be discerning.”
Or as the American humorist Mark Twain once noted: Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
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