Traditional Chinese medicine is enjoying a renaissance. But there is growing skepticism about the efficacy of its methods from within its own ranks.

Acupuncture is one of the most widely practiced Chinese therapies in the country and is gaining increasing popularity in the West.

The real threat to traditional Chinese medicine is not fear relating to its use of toxic compounds, but growing skepticism about the efficacy of its methods from within its own ranks, according to a leading German practitioner of the ancient medical system.

This is leading to a dangerous form of cross-pollination that is divorcing TCM from its holistic roots and seeing classical practices become forgotten, says Dr Heiner Fruehauf, who claims to have cured himself of cancer using ancient healing methods.

We've reached an end stage, where the real Chinese medicine that is a science in its own right is slowly disappearing, and where we have some kind of hybrid," he adds. "The modern version we have today is really a combination of Western medicine and TCM.

Such thinking has led to a spike in herbal-remedy prescriptions that contain similar ingredients to those clinically proven by Western medicine. By the same token, ancient practices such as Taoist alchemy, pulse diagnosis and qigong - all of which Fruehauf specializes in - are falling by the wayside.