Society

'Diet therapist' faked credentials to provide nutrition counseling

By Wang Hongyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-04 10:43

Copies of Eat Out the Diseases You Have Eaten by Zhang Wuben are exhibited in a bookstore in Yichang, Hubei province on May 18. [Liu Junfeng / for China Daily]

Officials also said they will publicize more information about health, meeting the needs of the public and phasing out fake experts.

In addition to participation in TV talk show programs, Zhang Wuben also put his theories in a book entitled Eat Out the Diseases You Have Eaten, as well as on DVDs, which have reportedly sold over three million copies nationwide.

Kang Ning, an employee of the China Association of Chinese Medicine, told China Daily that Zhang's book is "full of loopholes", which is likely to be harmful to health.

"Many parts of his theory are fundamentally wrong. He didn't have a systematic study of Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, which requires years of work," Kang said.

"There are too many parallel health books or TV programs. For ordinary people, it is very hard to find out the correct information. Who should we trust?" said 58-year-old man Xue Haijun, Zhang's big fan.

Zhang's book has now been taken off shelves in many book stores, though the move was not the result of demands by the related departments.

"So far, we didn't receive any notice to suspend the selling of the book. But we decided not to sell it, out of consideration for our readers," said an employee surnamed Wang from the Popular Bookmall.

Beijing Wangfujing Xinhua bookstore said earlier this year that it can sell hundreds of similar heath books.

"But after Zhang's case, sales of similar books have gone down. Some times we cannot sell one of them," a staff member of the book store said.

"People should seek health advice from authorized and reliable medical sources, rather than believe any man on the basis of his bare words," Kang Ning said.

The China Association of Chinese Medicine is currently planning to publish a book in which 10 of the country's most authorized health experts are invited to give scientific health guidance to the public.