From Food to Drug: Avicenna’s Perspective, a Brief Review

Document Type : Review

Authors

1 Student Scientific Research Center (SSRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Persian Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Persian Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Department of History of Medicine, School of Persian Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The Food and drug were developed by pharmacists and physicians, in particular Persian scientists throughout medical history. There was an especial view on the subject of nutrition and medications in Persian medicine (PM). Avicenna was one of the main Persian physicians who contributed to this field in the Canon of medicine “Al-qanun-fi-al-tibb”, his main medical and pharmaceutical text book in the 10th century AD.  In this paper, different categorizations of foods and drugs and their definitions in the Avicenna’s Canon of medicine were considered and compared with the similar categories in current medicine. These groups of foods and drugs included absolute aliment (Ghidhāol-motlaq), functional foods “Ghidhā od-dawā”, pharconutrient “Dawāol-ghadhā”, absolute medicament or drug “Dawāol-motlaq”, and poisons “Sammol-motlaq”. Also, there were several other classifications for foods and drugs in the Canon of medicine that act without their temperaments (qualities) such as “Dho-l-khāsiyyahis”.These definitions and classifications 1000 years ago and matching with current accepted terminologies are important both historically and also in the field of traditional pharmacy.

Keywords

Main Subjects


[1] El Sohaimy S. Functional foods and nutraceuticals-modern approach to food science. World Appl Sci J. 2012; 20(5): 691-708.
[2] Nimrouzi M, Zare M. Principles of nutrition in Islamic and traditional Persian medicine. J Evid Based Complement Altern Med. 2014; 19(4): 267-270.
[3] Rezaeizadeh H, Alizadeh M, Naseri M, Ardakani MS. The traditional Iranian medicine point of view on health and disease. Iran J Public Health. 2009; 38(1): 169-172.
[4] Kordafshari G, Kenari HM, Esfahani MM, Ardakani MRS, Keshavarz M, Nazem E, Moghimi MZargaran A. Nutritional aspects to prevent heart diseases in traditional Persian medicine. J Evid Based Complement Altern Med. 2015; 20(1): 57-64.
[5] Yarmohammadi H, Dalfardi B, Ghanizadeh A. Al-Akhawayni Bukhari (? -983 AD). J Neurol. 2014; 261(3): 643-645.
[6] Zargaran A, Zarshenas MM, Ahmadi SA, Vessal K. Haly Abbas (949-982 AD). J Neurol. 2013; 260(8): 2196-2197.
[7] Zargaran A, Mehdizadeh A, Zarshenas MM, Mohagheghzadeh A. Avicenna (980-1037 AD). J Neurol. 2012; 259(2): 389-390.
[8] Nikaein F, Zargaran A, Mehdizadeh A. Rhazes’ concepts and manuscripts on nutrition in treatment and health care. Anc Sci Life. 2012; 31(4): 160-163.
[9] Davood H, Omid S, Abdurrahman R, Shokouhsadat H. Avicenna’s views on factors affecting wound healing. Wound Med. 2016; 13(1): 1-4.
[10] Avicenna. Canon of medicine. New Delhi: S. Waris Nawab, Senior Press Superintendent, Jamia Hamdard Printing press, 1998.
[11] Shirzad M, Cheraqi Niroumand M, Shams Ardekani MR. Iranian traditional medicine: a dictionary Arabic- Persian- English. Tehran: Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC), 2014.
[12] Kalra EK. Nutraceutical-definition and introduction. AAPS PharmSci. 2003; 5(3): 27-28.
[13] Jazi R, Asli FO. Avicenne's Pharmacopoeia. Rev Hist Pharm (Paris). 1998; 45(317): 9-28.
[14] Ghaffari F, Naseri M, Shirzad M. The quality of investigating pharmacological effects of drugs in the book “Mofradat al-qanon fi’l-tib”. J Islam Iran Trad Med. 2010; 1(3): 195-202.
[15] Palthur MP, Palthur SS, Chitta SK. Nutraceuticals: concept and regulatory scenario. Int J Pharm Pharm Sci. 2010; 2(2): 14-20.
[16] Martirosyan DM, Singh J. A new definition of functional food by FFC: what makes a new definition unique? Func Foods Health Dis. 2015; 5(6): 209-223.
[17] Jones NE, Heyland DK. Pharmaconutrition: a new emerging paradigm. Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2008; 24(2): 215-222.
[18] Osland E, Hossain MB, Khan S, Memon MA. Effect of timing of pharmaconutrition (immunonutrition) administration on outcomes of elective surgery for gastrointestinal malignancies: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2014; 38(1): 53-69.
[19] Pierre JF, Heneghan AF, Lawson CM, Wischmeyer PE, Kozar RA, Kudsk KA. Pharmaconutrition review: physiological mechanisms. J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2013; 37(S 5): 51-65.
[20] Ghahraman A, Okhovvat AR. Matching the old medicinal plant names with scientific terminology. Tehran: Tehran University Press, 2004.
[21] Moerman DE. Meaning, medicine, and the "placebo effect". 1th ed. Michigan- Dearborn: The press syndicate of the Cambridge University, 2002.
[22] Nozad A, Naseri M, Safari MB, Abd A, Ahadi A, Ghaffari F. Food reduction in Avicenna's view and related principles in classical medicine. Iran Red Crescent Med J 2016; Article ID: e25760.
[23] Farsani GM, Movahhed M. Role of nutrition in children growth in view of traditional medicine. Iran J Med Sci. 2016; 41(S3): 57.
[24] Tavakkoli-Kakhki M, Eslami S, Motavasselian M. Nutrient-rich versus nutrient-poor foods for depressed patients based on Iranian traditional medicine resources. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2015; 5(4): 298-308.