Who fires up the healthy living craze?
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Zhang Wuben, a once popular food therapist in China, was found to have faked his credentials. |
In China, healthy living is not only popular among old people. Many well-educated youths are also faithful believers of such theories.
In 2009, a 26-year-old woman couldn't sleep well, so she searched for food therapies on the Internet. "Actually, it's fun to undergo food therapy," she said. "It saves me the trouble of taking medicines and helps me get stronger."
Most fans of healthy living have the same mindset as Li. Yun Wuxin, a doctor of food engineering, pointed out in a newspaper column that one of the tricks of the "food therapists" was that their therapies won't worsen the illness, and the patient will have the illusion of being cured.
"I don't care if the therapies really work," the anonymous woman said. "At any rate, they contain only grains and won't make my situation worse."
Despite the healthy living craze, the average Chinese person has little knowledge of healthcare. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, only 6.48 percent of Chinese citizens have basic healthcare knowledge, such as how to measure blood pressure and what number to dial in case of an emergency.
After the identity of Zhang Wuben was disclosed by the media, the Ministry of Health held a press conference, and many of the most authoritative medical experts came to criticize the erroneous "healthy living" theories. These included the theories that mung bean can cure all diseases and that drinking yogurt will clog blood vessels.
However, with swindlers like Zhang Wuben emerging one after another, isn't it a bit late for the Ministry of Health to denounce these falsities? Isn't it their responsibility to popularize correct scientific knowledge all the time?
It seems that the uninformed observers are not the only ones that should be blamed for the healthy living craze.
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