Fine-Humor Producing Materia Medica in Persian Medicine

Abstract

According to Persian Medicine (PM), humors that can replace the consumed body compounds, while contributing to health maintenance, is called ‘fine humor’ (khelt-e saleh). However, a limited number of foods and beverages have been mentioned as the producers of fine humor. These substances are particularly important in maintaining health in vulnerable populations including pregnant women, lactating mothers, the elderly, infants and children. They also play an important role in certain treatment plans during illness and injury and after recovery. The present study was designed to investigate properties of fine-humor producing materia medica, as described by PM resources. Based on the search performed in PM textbooks, 63 substances were found to have this property. The most frequent Mizaj types were hot-wet (33.34%), hot-dry (19.05%), and cold-wet (17.47%). The highest organ tropism belonged to kidneys and bladder, brain, liver, sex organs, stomach and lungs respectively. Examining drug actions indicated obesogenous (53.97%), enhancing sperm production and sexual potency (42.86%), laxative (39.69%), and tonic (33.34%) actions to be the most prevalent effects of these substances in the body. By integrating these substances into diets, health promotion for children, the elderly, and mothers during nursing and pregnancy may be achieved.  Additionally, patients can benefit from a fine-humor producing nutrition both for 1) prevention of chronic diseases and 2) during disease recovery, acute phases of illness, anemia, and metabolic illnesses. Further studies are recommended to analyze the components and nutritional value, and the use of PM capability in culinary medicine.