ON ANCIENT CHINESE DIET IN HUANG TI'S“NEI CHING SU WEN”
- VernacularTitle:黄帝内经所载的祖国古代完全膳食
- Author:
Chang-Ying ZHANG
;
Yu-Rui LI
;
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:
Acta Nutrimenta Sinica
1956;0(01):-
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Huang Ti's "Nei Ching Su Wen" is the earliest classical work on medical science in ancient China. It summed up the results of observations made in long years through practice by the ancient Chinese labouring people, accumulating thereby lots of valuable knowledge and experience in different lines of medicine.Some two thousand years ago, Chinese medical scientists in the Chou and the Chin Dynasties already conceived the advanced idea of laying special emphasis on prophylactic measures, and began to adopt diet therapy as a means of medical treatment. Principles of preparing complete diet were worked out by them. And in this connection, it is mentioned in the book "Nei Ching Su Wen" that "five kinds of cereals are the means of subsistence, five kinds of cattle provide beneficial food in the form of meat, five kinds of vegetables can be used for food enrichment, and five kinds of fruits may serve as supplement." These principles point out the necessary sorts of food to constitute a complete diet and their respective positions in it. That is to say, cereals including beans and peas are the staple food and animal meat is of secondary importance, with vegetables to enrich and fruits to supplement the first two. A diet thus prepared will not only consist of all the nutritive elements needed by the human body but also represent an appropriate arrangement of the different kinds of nutrients. Such a diet is, no doubt, in accord with the dietetic theory of modern science.
