In a hospital room filled with the muffled ticking of medical equipment, Ms. Li sat face-to-face with her attending doctor, a medical record in his hand and a frown. Ms. Li's face was tinged with imperceptible anxiety and exhaustion, and the tiny wrinkles silently spoke of her fear and uneasiness. She had just learned the news of her breast cancer diagnosis, and her heart felt like a stone was overwhelming.
"Did you have any special diet or lifestyle habits during this period?" the doctor's words interrupted Ms. Li's musings.
Ms. Li hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Me and Ms. Zhao, you know, in the next ward, we have been taking a health supplement that advertises that it can make people younger. ”
"Getting younger?" the doctor frowned, with a hint of reproach in his tone, "this kind of thing... You haven't even checked it?"
Ms. Li lowered her head, her voice barely audible: "We just want to stay young, who knows..."
The doctor sighed and didn't press on, knowing that it was useless to blame now. He began to explain the next treatment plan, while Ms. Li's mind drifted to five years ago.
At that time, she and Ms. Zhao met by chance at a cosmetics launch conference, and the self-proclaimed "rejuvenation" health care product made both of them excited. At first, they just had the mentality of giving it a try, but they didn't expect that as they took it every day, their skin really seemed to improve, and they slowly indulged in this visible change, as if they had found the secret of youth.
Over the course of five years, they had become almost loyal customers of the company, complimenting each other on their radiant appearance at every party. However, what Ms. Li didn't expect was that this seemingly beautiful feast of youth would eventually end in a healthy nightmare.
Just last month, Ms. Zhao suddenly became unwell, and the subsequent test results were like a bolt from the blue - breast cancer. Ms. Li was still reassuring her that she would be fine, until she also felt pain in her chest and had to have a check-up. When the same diagnosis was put in front of her, she realized that the youth they had been pursuing for the past five years was nothing more than a gorgeous misunderstanding.
In the room, the doctor's voice gradually blurred, and Ms. Li's heart swelled with regret. If she could choose again, she would rather embrace natural aging than go down the path she is now.
Ms. Li and Ms. Zhao were hungry for ways to slow down aging, but unfortunately fell into the trap of health. Their case is undoubtedly a mirror, reflecting the fact that some people in modern society believe in advertisements and ignore scientific common sense in pursuit of young beauty, which eventually leads to tragedy.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with health problems caused by the improper use of health supplements is rising globally every year. In China, from 2019 to 2022, there were hundreds of health incidents caused by informal health products, involving thousands of products. The story behind this data is often exaggerated efficacy and safety, combined with consumer superstitions about words like "natural" and "additive-free", creating a dangerous mixture.
"Medicine and food are of the same origin, and diet therapy is the mainstay". This sentence is like a double-edged sword, reminding us of the boundaries between food and medicine, but it also emphasizes the importance of dietary therapy. In other words, people should treat the choice of health products and drugs in the same way that they treat "honey before swallowing bitter medicine": take it carefully when necessary, rather than blindly pursuing the so-called immediate effect.
Let's go back to the cases of Ms. Li and Ms. Zhao. The two took supplements for a long time without being evaluated by a doctor, and the end result was that they had serious side effects. This is a typical lesson of "drinking to quench thirst", they pursue beauty and health while ignoring the real needs of the body. In real life, such cases are not uncommon, and many people blindly follow the trend under the temptation of rhetoric about health care products, but in the end the gains outweigh the losses.
Experts have repeatedly stressed that health supplements are not a panacea and that they are not a substitute for a healthy diet and lifestyle. For most people, eating a balanced diet, exercising moderately, and getting enough sleep are often more effective than any supplement. The consequences of superstitious health supplements can be heavy, as the examples of Ms. Li and Ms. Zhao demonstrate.
As we age, everyone faces the problem of aging, but we should treat this natural process sensibly. Protecting health and staying away from unfounded superstitions and risky behaviors is the real "anti-aging". As the old saying goes, "if you want to be fast, you can't reach it", on the road to the pursuit of health and beauty, we should choose our pace carefully in order to go further and safer.
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