Guest guest Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 For those of you with experience in China, can you say anything about the practice of dietetics in China as medical treatment or prevention? Is is mostly folk medicine? Do some doctors in hospitals prescribe food treatment? When/if food therapy is practiced, is a Western nutritional perspective combined at all with Chinese dietetics? Thank you, Marian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Marian, When I studied at Zhejiang College in Hangzhou, we had a chance to take a dietetics class from the head of Gastroenterology, a Dr. Qi. He spoke English very well and had a lucidly organized curriculum that entailed a materia medica of foods with their qi, flavors, and natures, much like the classes are delivered here in the States. When we we observed him in his practice, along with general information about food exclusions and inclusions, he would prescribe medicinal porridges specific to the case. I don't have Flaws' Book of Jook handy, but I suspect that as many of those recipes relate to specific TCM disease categories, they are included in an official formulary somewhere and thus elevated beyond the status of 'folk medicine.' This same doctor also told us that in China, A.I.D.S. only existed in Guandong province. He also told us, as we were there during the S.A.R.S. outbreak and only heard about it from our families, that the disease also only existed in Guandong and that we had nothing to be concerned about. 2 of the seed cases came out of hospitals in Hangzhou. I've always scratched my head as to whether it was his personal decision to be epidemiologically inaccurate, or if this was some sort of official position. Ben Zappin chinesemed Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:36:20 +0000 Dietetics in China? For those of you with experience in China, can you say anything about the practice of dietetics in China as medical treatment or prevention? Is is mostly folk medicine? Do some doctors in hospitals prescribe food treatment? When/if food therapy is practiced, is a Western nutritional perspective combined at all with Chinese dietetics? Thank you, Marian _______________ Rediscover Hotmail®: Get quick friend updates right in your inbox. http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Updates\ 2_042009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 The practice of 养生yangsheng has a long tradition, and history. The school library and medical book stores, carry shelves full of books on the subject. It has both, Medical, and folk traditions. It is very prevalent here in Taiwan, I’ve notice that the old doctors, I intern with in their private practice tend to recommend diet changes according to the patient’s condition, on the other hand young doctors at the hospital tend not to. The patients that follow the prescribed dietary modifications seem to fare much better than the patients that don’t.  Yang Sheng is a very interesting field of study, there are some people that only focus on traditional dietetics to treat illness here in Taiwan. I have to warn you some of it can be a little alarming but for the most part is very Yang ShengJ Gabe Fuentes --- On Tue, 4/21/09, Marian Blum, L.Ac., DNBAO <chinesemed wrote: Marian Blum, L.Ac., DNBAO <chinesemed Dietetics in China? Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 6:36 PM For those of you with experience in China, can you say anything about the practice of dietetics in China as medical treatment or prevention? Is is mostly folk medicine? Do some doctors in hospitals prescribe food treatment? When/if food therapy is practiced, is a Western nutritional perspective combined at all with Chinese dietetics? Thank you, Marian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 Hi Ben, That's interesting that he was the head of the department--certainly evidence that dietetics are taken seriously by some of the respected docs in China. Strange about his stating inaccuracies about where SARS and AIDS were occurring in China. About the Book of Jook, Flaws references about 7 books as being among his sources. One of them has " folk formulas " in the title. Most of the others look more official. Thank you, Marian , ben zappin <btz23 wrote: > > > Marian, > > When I studied at Zhejiang College in Hangzhou, we had a chance to take a dietetics class from the head of Gastroenterology, a Dr. Qi. He spoke English very well and had a lucidly organized curriculum that entailed a materia medica of foods with their qi, flavors, and natures, much like the classes are delivered here in the States. When we we observed him in his practice, along with general information about food exclusions and inclusions, he would prescribe medicinal porridges specific to the case. > > I don't have Flaws' Book of Jook handy, but I suspect that as many of those recipes relate to specific TCM disease categories, they are included in an official formulary somewhere and thus elevated beyond the status of 'folk medicine.' > > This same doctor also told us that in China, A.I.D.S. only existed in Guandong province. He also told us, as we were there during the S.A.R.S. outbreak and only heard about it from our families, that the disease also only existed in Guandong and that we had nothing to be concerned about. 2 of the seed cases came out of hospitals in Hangzhou. I've always scratched my head as to whether it was his personal decision to be epidemiologically inaccurate, or if this was some sort of official position. > > > > Ben Zappin > > > > > chinesemed > Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:36:20 +0000 > Dietetics in China? > For those of you with experience in China, can you say anything about the practice of dietetics in China as medical treatment or prevention? Is is mostly folk medicine? Do some doctors in hospitals prescribe food treatment? When/if food therapy is practiced, is a Western nutritional perspective combined at all with Chinese dietetics? > > Thank you, > > Marian > > > _______________ > Rediscover Hotmail®: Get quick friend updates right in your inbox. > http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Updates\ 2_042009 > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 Gabe, I'm not surprised that the older doctors are more likely to prescribe food therapy than the new docs in the hospital. Maybe the increasing availability of addictive 'western' foods (sugar and fat, in particular) makes it particularly difficult (though more important) now to modify people's eating habits. Docs in the US mostly don't want to take the time and don't expect people are willing to take dietary advice. (Although I do know of notable exceptions. When some docs do take time with people and offer support, people readily change.) Of course, there's also the fact that most docs have little training or interest in nutrition themselves. That's intriguing that some of the dietary therapies are alarming. I suppose you mean tiger penis and that sort of thing. I wonder whether all those books on the subject largely agree on the properties of foods, as is the case with herbs in materia medicas, or whether there's more variation in opinion. Thank you for giving us a glimpse of how things are in Taiwan. Marian , Gabriel Fuentes <fuentes120 wrote: > > The practice of å…»ç " Ÿyangsheng has a long tradition, and history. The school library and medical book stores, carry shelves full of books on the subject. It has both, Medical, and folk traditions. It is very prevalent here in Taiwan, I’ve notice that the old doctors, I intern with in their private practice tend to recommend diet changes according to the patient’s condition, on the other hand young doctors at the hospital tend not to. The patients that follow the prescribed dietary modifications seem to fare much better than the patients that don’t.  Yang Sheng is a very interesting field of study, there are some people that only focus on traditional dietetics to treat illness here in Taiwan. I have to warn you some of it can be a little alarming but for the most part is very Yang ShengJ > Gabe Fuentes > > --- On Tue, 4/21/09, Marian Blum, L.Ac., DNBAO <chinesemed wrote: > > > Marian Blum, L.Ac., DNBAO <chinesemed > Dietetics in China? > > Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 6:36 PM > > For those of you with experience in China, can you say anything about the practice of dietetics in China as medical treatment or prevention? Is is mostly folk medicine? Do some doctors in hospitals prescribe food treatment? When/if food therapy is practiced, is a Western nutritional perspective combined at all with Chinese dietetics? > > Thank you, > > Marian > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 That's intriguing that some of the dietary therapies are alarming. I suppose you mean tiger penis and that sort of thing.  Yes that’s exactly what I meant, but mostly what you see is food preparations with the inclusion of herbs, and your occasional addition of pig liver or brain. I wonder whether all those books on the subject largely agree on the properties of foods, as is the case with herbs in materia medicas, or whether there's more variation in opinion.  Actually there are variations and contradictions in both herbal medicine and Chinese dietetics if you look far back enough. One of my xue mei at school is doing research on one formula, sorry I can’t remember of top of my head which one it was, I think it was Si wu tang but not sure, she was telling me there were 17 or 19 different historical contradicting references in the classical literature, raging all the way from ingredients to application. Gabe Fuentes --- On Wed, 4/22/09, Marian Blum, L.Ac., DNBAO <chinesemed wrote: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.