Chinese medicine diet therapy and modern nutrition are two different things

In layman's terms, Chinese diet therapy is a discipline that guides how to eat to achieve health care based on the basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine. Since ancient times, there has been a saying in my country that "medicine is in food" and "medicine and food have the same origin". Diet therapy, that is, food therapy or diet therapy, is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine, just like drug therapy, acupuncture, massage, qigong, etc.

Since it is guided by the basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine, it is not equivalent to modern nutrition and has its own distinct characteristics. The theories of traditional Chinese medicine involved mainly include holistic concept, syndrome differentiation diet therapy, individual differences, yin and yang, five elements, four qi and five flavors, meridian theory, etc.

What about modern nutrition? It is the science that studies the human body's nutrition process, needs and sources, as well as nutrition and health. In layman's terms, nutrition focuses on the specific nutrients in food that the human body needs. Generally speaking, there are six major nutrients, namely: protein, lipids, sugars (carbohydrates), vitamins, inorganic salts and water.

Although Chinese dietetics and modern nutrition are two fundamentally different things, they are not contradictory. On the contrary, if they can be reasonably combined, the effect of food health care will be better and faster than any other. That is, combining the theory of Chinese dietetics with the theory of modern nutrition, double screening, double insurance, should play a positive role in food health care and food treatment.

Pure Chinese medicine diet therapy and modern nutrition science both have their advantages and disadvantages. If they are not combined and only one theory is considered, it will not be ideal and sometimes even a joke.

Let’s talk about Chinese medicine diet therapy first. Take gout as an example. For a person with yin deficiency, if we only follow the theory of Chinese medicine diet therapy, we will provide the patient with food recipes for nourishing yin and clearing away heat. However, because we do not consider which foods are rich in purine and patients should not eat, we will make the low-level mistake of recommending foods that may contain rich purine, and we will be laughed at by colleagues and even patients.

At this time, it is not scientific enough to only rely on the theory of Chinese medicine diet therapy without combining it with modern nutrition theory, and it may even be doubted and ridiculed by patients. Because "long illness makes one a doctor", patients have a relatively familiar knowledge of what they should and should not eat from a nutritional perspective due to their condition.

So, is it wise to rely on nutrition alone? Let's take gout as an example. According to nutrition theory, corn, sweet potato, adzuki bean, etc. do not contain or contain very little purine, and should be used as the staple food for gout patients. Japonica rice, wheat, etc. can also be eaten frequently. Vegetables, except spinach, generally contain less purine in green leafy vegetables and root vegetables, which are also conducive to the excretion of uric acid, so they can be eaten with confidence. However, if we put aside the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and recommend the above recipes regardless of physical deficiency or excess, cold or heat, it would be biased.

For example, gout patients can eat red beans as a staple food, but Chinese medicine believes that red beans are flat in nature, sweet and sour in taste, and have the functions of strengthening the spleen and stopping diarrhea, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling. They are suitable for people with phlegm-damp constitution. Products that promote diuresis should not be taken for a long time, otherwise it is easy to damage the body. For example, "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Red beans are downward in nature. If taken for a long time, they will be too downward, and body fluids will be leaked, so the muscles will be thin and the body will be heavy." As for Yin deficiency constitution, even gout patients cannot eat red beans for a long time, otherwise, the deficiency will become more deficient. Wheat is cool in nature, sweet in taste, and has the functions of nourishing the mind and restraining sweat. It is suitable for deficiency syndrome. If patients with excess syndrome take it for a long time, although I dare not say how much side effects it will cause, it is not in line with their constitution and is not good for health. This is true for staple foods, other vegetables, fruits, drinks, etc., and foods also have properties and tastes. Although some are foods, their properties and tastes are still very obvious. It can be seen that simply recommending food intervention guidance plans based on nutrition theory is sometimes inevitably inconsistent with Chinese medicine theory and is not conducive to people's health.

Medical treatment has long been combined with traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, which has played a significant role in the health of the people and solved many problems that could not be solved by relying solely on traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine. Similarly, from the perspective of benefiting the health of the people and from the perspective of multidisciplinary cooperation to create a dietotherapy theory with Chinese characteristics, modern nutrition is also in urgent need of combining with traditional Chinese dietotherapy.

The dual intervention method of diet therapy needs to be established urgently

Chinese dietetics and modern nutrition have their own advantages. Although they are two different disciplines, they are both about helping people improve their physical fitness and maintain good health through proper diet, and even using food therapy as a treatment to help relieve pain and recover early. It is urgent to establish a dual intervention method of dietetics that combines the theory of Chinese dietetics and the theory of modern nutrition, and there are many benefits:

First of all, we can combine the advantages of Chinese medicine dietotherapy and modern nutrition theory to provide people with more scientific, reasonable and effective diet therapy guidance plans. At the same time, we can avoid the embarrassing situation of contradictions between Chinese medicine dietotherapy and modern nutrition.

Secondly, clinical practice is complex, and the same patient may suffer from multiple diseases at the same time. At this time, it is rather cumbersome and difficult to provide effective dietary therapy prescriptions from the perspective of both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. With the help of the dual intervention method of dietary therapy, patients can be provided with the most suitable dietary therapy prescription for their individual needs quickly and effectively, reflecting the characteristics of individualized dialectical dietary therapy in traditional Chinese medicine.