A quack Chinese doctor from Australia has opened up a clinic in Auckland (opens new window), to better serve his kiwi patients. Shuquan Liu will likely be selling his weight loss herbal diet in NZ, which consists of getting people to consume nothing but Chinese herbs for two weeks. The diet is an extreme calorie restriction diet (< 200 calories a day), which is likely to be dangerous to those who follow it.

Shuquan was prosecuted in Australia last month (opens new window) by the Health Care Complaints Commission for giving a patient bad medical advice, so it's disappointing to see him over here. He was prosecuted for:

• using staff who were not registered Chinese medical practitioners and not adequately skilled.
• failing to maintain proper clinical records including the patient's case history, an adequate diagnosis, a treatment plan, and notes relating to the patient's progress, symptoms and diet

The tribunal concluded that the charges he was found guilty of "are so serious as to warrant a finding of professional misconduct"

Liz Beaglehole, a kiwi dietician, has warned people about low calorie diets such as Shuquan's:

"You lose water, then your muscle wastes - particularly on such a low-calorie diet like that, it's completely unsustainable and the risk is that you do all this and your metabolic rate and all your hunger cues get mucked up. I just wouldn't recommend that to anyone"

Unsurprisingly, I can't find Shuquan listed as a registered medical doctor (opens new window) in NZ.