Medical Works on Chinese Food Therapy

In the Song Dynasty, Wang Huaiyin and some others wrote Peaceful Holy Benevolent Prescriptions in which they discussed medicated diet treatment for many diseases. A Book on How to Help the Old to Preserve Health and Your Kith and Kin to Prolong their Lines by Chen Zhi is an extant early monograph on gerontology in China. Of all the prescriptions recorded in it, 70% are about medicated diet. It is emphasized in this book that "dietetic therapy should go first for any senile diseases, and then followed by medicine if they are not cured."  In the book Principles of Correct Diet, a monograph on medicated diet, by Hu Sihui, a royal doctor in the Yuan Dynasty, oceans of medicated diet prescriptions and dietetic drugs were recorded; in addition, some questions, such as diet contraindication in pregnancy, diet contraindication for wet nurse, contraindication for drinking, etc. were also discussed in this book. Click here to learn Chinese herb Rhizoma Picrorrhizae (Huhuanglian).

In the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen collected and recorded in his Compendium of Materia Medica many medicated diet prescriptions, dozens of which were about medicated gruel alone, another dozens touched on nothing other than medicated wine. In Eight Essays on Life Preservation, a monograph on health preserving in the Ming Dynasty, many medicated diets on health preserving and health care were recorded too. Monographs on medicated diet treatment in the Qing Dynasty varied in characteristics: in Recipe of Suixiju by Wang Shixiong, over 300 species belonging to 7 phyla of medicated food and drink were introduced; in Analysis of Food and Drink for Treatment of Diseases by Zhang Mu, more medicated foods were touched upon; in Cookbook of Suiyuan cooking principles and methods were dealt with; while in Common Saying for Senile Health Preservation, also known as Jottings on Health Preservation, by Cao Tingdong, about 100 medicated gruel prescriptions for gerocomy were listed. Click here to learn Chinese herb Herba Artemisiae Annuae (Qinghao).

Now because of the development of economy and the continuous rising of the people’s living standard, medicated diet is more and more valued by the people, and a number of works about medicated diet with distinctive traditional features have been collated and published one after another. For example, in 1984, the collated Dietotherapy of Materia Medica appeared, the original of which, published in the Tang Dybasty, was lost long ago. It was compiled by our contemporaries Xie Haizhou, Ma Jixing and some others on the basis of what was recorded and preserved in some medical works. Some other books have been republished in recent years, among which  are  Principles of Correct Diet by Hu Sihui in the Yuan Dynasty, Recipe of Suixiju by Wang Shixiong in the Qing Dynasty, Analysis of Food and Drink for Treatment of Diseases by Zhang Mu in the Qing Dynasty, and so on. The publishing of these books will play an important role in carrying on the experiences in ancient medicated diet. Click here to learn Chinese herb Fructus Forsythiae (Lianqiao).

In the past ten years or more, many monographs and popular scientific works on medicated diet have come out. Chinese Medicinal Food and Simple Recipes by Ye Juquan, a notable old doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, were published in 1973, in which 183 kinds of Chinese medicinal food and 901 simple prescriptions are recorded. Later on, there have come out such books as Science of Chinese Medicated Diet by Peng Mingquan, Science of Chinese Dietetic Treatment by Qian Bowen, Popular Medicated Diets by Peng Mingquan and Yang Fan, Menu of Medicated Diet for Nourishment and Health Care by Yu Chang fang, A Practical Nutriology of Traditional Chinese Medicine by Jiang Chao, series of Chinese Dietetic Treatment Science by Xie Yongxin and Lei Zai quan and many other monographs on medicated gruel, and medicated wine. Those books have pushed forward on a large scale the popularization and development of medicated diet treatment. Click here to learn Chinese herb Radix Scutellariae (Huangqin).