Chinese food therapy facts for kids

Chinese food therapy (simplified Chinese: 食疗; traditional Chinese: 食療; pinyin: shíliáo; literally "food therapy") is a way of eating that comes from ancient Chinese beliefs. It focuses on how different foods affect your body. A key idea is to eat in moderation, meaning not too much or too little.

This therapy mixes ideas from Taoism (an ancient Chinese philosophy) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). For a long time, Chinese people have used food therapy to stay healthy. It became more known in Western countries in the 1990s.

How Did Food Therapy Start?

Ancient Chinese people were very interested in food. Some old cookbooks talked about food, but not much about its medical uses. Later, books about "nourishing life" (called yǎngshēng) started to include advice on food. These books aimed to help people live longer or even become immortal.

Some very old texts, like the Recipes for Fifty-Two Ailments (around 200 BCE) and the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, are seen as early steps towards food therapy. The first one suggested foods as remedies for sickness. The second discussed how food affects health.

Early Writings on Food Therapy

The oldest known Chinese text specifically about diet and health is from the Tang dynasty (around 650s CE). It's a chapter in a book by Sun Simiao called Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold. Sun Simiao was the first to use the term "food therapy" (shiliao).

He believed that people should try food remedies first when they felt sick. Sun's book explained the properties of different foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats. He used ideas from the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, such as qi (life energy) and the viscera (internal organs). He also talked about the "five flavors" (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty) and how they relate to the body.

Sun Simiao also listed many "dietary rules." These rules suggested avoiding certain foods at specific times or when combined with other foods.

Meng Shen, one of Sun Simiao's students, wrote the first book completely about the healing power of food. It was called Materia Dietetica (simplified Chinese: 食疗本草; traditional Chinese: 食療本草; pinyin: Shíliáo běncǎo; literally "food therapy materia medica"). This book doesn't exist anymore, but parts of it were quoted in later writings. Meng's work gave more details on how to prepare foods for health. The books by Sun Simiao and Meng Shen really shaped how food therapy developed over the centuries.

Later Developments

Over time, many more books were written in China about using food as medicine. For example, a book from the mid-9th century, Candid Views of a Nutritionist-Physician, discussed how food could treat various problems. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), several books explained how to feed older people to help them live longer.

In the early 1300s, a man named Hu Sihui worked as the Grand Dietician for the Mongol Yuan dynasty. He wrote an important book called Proper and Essential Things for the Emperor's Food and Drink. This book is still considered a classic today. Hu's book included ideas from other cultures, like the Turko-Islamic world. It also explained how foods affect the body based on the Five Phases theory, which links different foods to specific organs and healing effects.

Chinese food therapy ideas also spread to other parts of East Asia. Japanese books mentioned Chinese dietary works as early as the 10th century. Korean writings on food were also influenced by Chinese ideas. Even the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) imperial court had Chinese food therapy books translated into the Manchu language.

Main Ideas of Chinese Food Therapy

While Chinese food therapy has many different ideas, some main concepts are always present. A key belief is that "medicine and food share a common origin." This means that foods can be used to prevent or treat health issues, just like medicines.

Heating and Cooling Foods

In Chinese food therapy, foods are often classified as "heating" (simplified Chinese: 热; traditional Chinese: 熱; pinyin: rè) or "cooling" (simplified Chinese: 凉; traditional Chinese: 涼; pinyin: liáng).

• Heating foods are usually high in calories, cooked with high heat, spicy, or have "hot" colors like red or orange. Examples include red meat, baked goods, deep-fried foods, and alcohol. These foods are often avoided in summer. They can be used to treat "cold" illnesses, like feeling very pale, having watery stools, feeling tired, or having a low body temperature.
• Cooling foods are typically low in calories, watery, soothing, sour, or have "cool" colors like white or green. Green vegetables are a good example. These foods are suggested for "hot" conditions. These might include rashes, dry or red skin, heartburn, sore throats, swollen gums, or constipation.

Five Flavors and Their Effects

Beyond "heating" and "cooling," each food or medicine is also thought to have one of five flavors: sour, sweet, bitter, pungent (spicy), and salty. Each flavor is believed to have specific effects on certain internal organs (the viscera).

For example:

• The sour flavor can help tighten things up and soften them. It might help the liver and control diarrhea or sweating.
• Bitter foods can help calm the "heart fire," reduce too much fluid, help with bowel movements, and strengthen the heart's "Yin" energy.

Scientific View

There aren't many studies in English that look at Chinese food therapy using modern scientific methods. Some studies done in China suggest that a diet based on these ideas might help control blood pressure. However, these studies often use different ways of diagnosing problems than modern medicine. For example, they might talk about "Yin deficiency" instead of hypertension (high blood pressure).

Also, these studies often rely more on traditional ideas and observations rather than strict randomized controlled trials, which are the gold standard in modern science. Because of this, the claims of how well Chinese food therapy works are not as strong as those for diets like the DASH diet or Mediterranean diet. These other diets have been proven to have health benefits through a lot of clinical research.

Other Examples

• Qiu Li Gao is a pear syrup or paste. It is traditionally used to help with lung problems.

Images for kids

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  The Shiliao Bencao stated that many parts of the wild boar could be used therapeutically. Boar gallstones, powdered and decocted, could cure epidemics. Boar teeth, burnt to ashes and ingested, could alleviate the symptoms of snakebites. And refined boar fat taken with cereal wine could help nursing women produce more milk.