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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Quackery rife and Net results not promising
Source: Xinhua |
June 8, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A LITTLE boy's urine to cure what ails you?
The seller on online auction site taobao.com claimed the product could be used to treat almost anything, for a price of up to 9,900 yuan (US$1,449).
It is one of the many quack remedies being offered to the neurotic and vulnerable, who seek cures allegedly based on China's ancient teachings that a healthy body can be maintained through natural treatment and diet.
Zhang Wuben, a traditional Chinese medicine aficionado, became a guru overnight through his food-therapy forums on a TV program, and his hallmark theory that mung beans cure all.
Zhang's book on food therapy - "Eat Out The Diseases You Have Eaten" - became a best-seller on book-retailing Website Zhuoyue.com.
However, his medical qualifications were later exposed as false and his theories have been refuted.
The nationwide dedication to traditional medicine prevails but with a warning.
Modern stress
Professor Guo Xiazhen of Beijing University of Chinese Medicines said Chinese always yearned for long life and their new wealth and the stress of modern life fired their interest in healthy living.
Guo described the faith of many in traditional methods as "blind," resulting in misguided treatments.
"Many people care more about their health now and turn to TCM for help, but most of them do not know the proper methods," she said. "Traditional medicines are made of herbs and animals, without chemical additives, so people feel they are safer. TCM stresses healthy living, including diet, to promote health and prevent disease."
Many confused TCM with the study of nutrition, said Guo. "You should turn to a nutritionist if you want advice about how to keep healthy."
She cited the case of a Beijing woman who was hospitalized because she ate too much raw aubergine as one of the "prescriptions" of Zhang.
Five colors
"TCM is a branch of medical science," Guo said. "People should turn to doctors for cures and not believe what the media, particularly the Internet, say, even though some of it is correct," she said.
Many Chinese, especially the young, turn to the Internet, for "self-prescribing."
Ji Xiaopei, 23, a graduate student in Beijing, drinks bean milk daily that she makes with sesame seeds, soybeans, red beans, and a mix of nuts covering five colors,
"I learned this from TCM theory that people's five internal organs need to draw nutrition from food of five different colors," Ji said.
She drew her ideas from television and the Internet and had never consulted a doctor.
"I worry about my health since I am losing weight, but I have learned from the Internet that food therapy can help me stay fit," she said.
Professor Zhu Liwen, a nutrition specialist at Peking University, said China had too few professional nutritionists to meet demand.
"The lack of nutritionists helps fuel such fervor because people might pick up the wrong information from the mass media without professional alternatives to turn to," Zhu said.
The seller on online auction site taobao.com claimed the product could be used to treat almost anything, for a price of up to 9,900 yuan (US$1,449).
It is one of the many quack remedies being offered to the neurotic and vulnerable, who seek cures allegedly based on China's ancient teachings that a healthy body can be maintained through natural treatment and diet.
Zhang Wuben, a traditional Chinese medicine aficionado, became a guru overnight through his food-therapy forums on a TV program, and his hallmark theory that mung beans cure all.
Zhang's book on food therapy - "Eat Out The Diseases You Have Eaten" - became a best-seller on book-retailing Website Zhuoyue.com.
However, his medical qualifications were later exposed as false and his theories have been refuted.
The nationwide dedication to traditional medicine prevails but with a warning.
Modern stress
Professor Guo Xiazhen of Beijing University of Chinese Medicines said Chinese always yearned for long life and their new wealth and the stress of modern life fired their interest in healthy living.
Guo described the faith of many in traditional methods as "blind," resulting in misguided treatments.
"Many people care more about their health now and turn to TCM for help, but most of them do not know the proper methods," she said. "Traditional medicines are made of herbs and animals, without chemical additives, so people feel they are safer. TCM stresses healthy living, including diet, to promote health and prevent disease."
Many confused TCM with the study of nutrition, said Guo. "You should turn to a nutritionist if you want advice about how to keep healthy."
She cited the case of a Beijing woman who was hospitalized because she ate too much raw aubergine as one of the "prescriptions" of Zhang.
Five colors
"TCM is a branch of medical science," Guo said. "People should turn to doctors for cures and not believe what the media, particularly the Internet, say, even though some of it is correct," she said.
Many Chinese, especially the young, turn to the Internet, for "self-prescribing."
Ji Xiaopei, 23, a graduate student in Beijing, drinks bean milk daily that she makes with sesame seeds, soybeans, red beans, and a mix of nuts covering five colors,
"I learned this from TCM theory that people's five internal organs need to draw nutrition from food of five different colors," Ji said.
She drew her ideas from television and the Internet and had never consulted a doctor.
"I worry about my health since I am losing weight, but I have learned from the Internet that food therapy can help me stay fit," she said.
Professor Zhu Liwen, a nutrition specialist at Peking University, said China had too few professional nutritionists to meet demand.
"The lack of nutritionists helps fuel such fervor because people might pick up the wrong information from the mass media without professional alternatives to turn to," Zhu said.
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