The raw truth

Chinese medicinal herbs, used in teas, at a Beijing health club.  Sun Yan / Asia News Photo

Television expert's cure-all prescription of mung beans, eggplants, calcium pills, bitter melon and white radish, has little basis in TCM, say doctors. Ye Jun reports

Dr Zhang Shunan was shocked to discover that, all of a sudden, many of his patients were eating raw eggplant. "Some of them had started to feel uncomfortable in the stomach," says Zhang, head of the TCM department at Beijing's China-Japan Friendship Hospital.

His patients explained they were following the teachings of Zhang Wuben, a celebrity "health expert" who advocated curing diseases through food.

Zhang, a 44-year-old Beijing native, became widely known after appearing on the Hunan TV show, Bai Ke Quan Shuo (Encyclopedic Talk). His book, Eat Away the Illnesses Eaten In, sold a record 3 million copies.

But Zhang's brief stardom came to an end when it was discovered that he had no medical credentials. His cure-all prescription, offered for a hefty sum, invariably comprised mung beans, calcium pills, raw aubergines, bitter melon, white radish, Chinese yam and corn.

Among his outlandish claims he said that drinking 500 grams of mung-bean soup daily helped one get rid of short sight, diabetes, high blood pressure and tumors. He recommended a daily intake of 4,000 milligrams for men and 3,000 milligrams for women to lower blood pressure.

Dr Zhang Shunan says that while TCM does believe that food therapies are better than medicine to alleviate minor physical discomfort, "when it comes to a major illness, food can only serve as a supplementary tool".

Moreover, an important rule in TCM is that treatments have to be tailored to individual symptoms - there is never a single cure that fits all cases .

"Foods, like medicines, differ in their hot, cold, warm and cool properties," says Zhang Shunan. "The choice of food varies not only between people, but also with the changes of season, and location." Mung beans, he says, are cool in nature and can help with problems caused by excessive heat in summer. But people with a weak and cold stomach and spleen can get diarrhea if they drink too much mung-bean soup.

Raw eggplant, according to him, does not have much medicinal quality, although white radish can help boost the flow of qi, and help rid the body of phlegm.

"Calcium pills are only good for people with calcium deficiency," says the doctor. "Otherwise, extra calcium in the body can cause problems for the kidneys, bladder and ureter. It can also cause calcification and stiff bone joints."

Zhang Wuben's popularity has been attributed to the increasing obsession with wellness among the Chinese. "It reflects the fact that, with better living conditions, Chinese people have a much higher awareness of health," says Zhang Shunan, pointing out that Zhang Wuben was able to win over his audience with his eloquence.

Moreover, he understood what his audience wanted.

"He offered exactly what many patients wanted: absolute conclusions, and promises of cure," he says.

Cheng Yiyong, president of the Chinese Nutrition Society, says while Zhang Wuben got many of his health concepts wrong, Chinese food habits do call for adjustments.

Cheng, professor at the Tianjin Institute of Health and Environmental Medicine, says the Chinese diet lacks calcium. The society recommends that Chinese adults should drink 300 milliliters of milk per day, but many don't drink any milk. The diet also lacks high-quality protein, such as that from fish, poultry, eggs, meat and soybean.

This is especially true of the countryside, and this has slowed children's growth.

Excessive use of salt and fried foods, lack of cereals, vegetables and fruits in the daily diet and lack of exercise have also increased the incidence of high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular problems among the Chinese, Cheng adds.

"People should adjust their food intake as dictated by their nutritional requirements."

Zhang Shunan says Zhang Wuben's popularity begs the question why he, with his false theories, succeeded, while many genuinely qualified doctors and nutritionists fail to get their message across.

"Publicizing medical knowledge to a general audience requires a vivid, easy-to-understand style," he says. "That demands not just rich experience but also abundant professional knowledge."

But he is also quick to point out another factor in the "expert's" fame.

"The media did a lot to prop him up."