A letdown to followers
Again, like many of its kind, the nostrums convinced quite a few people to follow its advice. One web user hailed the review, saying: "Screw the pills, let's take food therapy." However, after a short-lived craze over the nostrums, followers are getting more and more skeptical due to many failed experiments. Many not-so-convinced users of the "nostrum collection" even accuse it of being a fraud.
The once passionate web user nicknamed "tiny little F" recalled to a newspaper his failed trial of one of the recommended therapies. "It said pumpkin vine tea would be helpful in quitting smoking. I drank it for 7 days straight, yet nothing happened," said the irritated man.
Another web user called "the apple fond of sleeping" also became disappointed with the nostrums due to "a blinding pain under my feet after following the instructions." According to the post, daubing some grinded garlic on soles can be very helpful in healing colds.
Time to be critical
Sun Wei, an experienced Chinese medicine doctor from the provincial hospital of Jiangsu Province, warned that "it's time to be skeptical of such online folk nostrums."
And, he has a good reason to raise such a warning since "so many Chinese are becoming more and more convinced by miracle diet therapies." It has offered many quacks the opportunities to cash in on food therapies. They usually gain fame by writing books or through television programs, introducing traditional Chinese medical practices and theories to common people. However, they usually don't have any formal education in the medical sciences or licenses to give medical treatments. With their excellent eloquence and convincing manners, they win over lots of believers, like the one who posted the so-called nostrum report.
No matter how ridiculous their treatments are, they have a large number of loyal followers and the healing effects of the "magical treatments" are being believed across the county. Some patients even give up standard treatments in hospitals and turn to them for help.
Ma Yueling, for example, is one such opportunist who, likes Zhang Wuben, claimed herself to be the "Godmother of Health" and capable of curing many kinds of terminal illnesses by treating patients with raw loaches (a type of fish), Chinese angelica, and other high-caloric foods. Both Ma and Zhang were found to have faked their credentials.
"The strong belief in Chinese traditional medicine blinds patients," said one comment published in the Beijing News last month. People believe that magical nostrums do exist in the long history of Chinese medicine, and they may even be more effective than Western medicine. And, as one part of the magical nostrums, food therapy appears extremely attractive as a result.
"Though not all such nostrums are frauds, quite a few of them do appear one-sided. It's better to be cautious before buying the whole story," suggested Sun Wei.
