Nutrition and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM): a system's theoretical perspective

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an entirely coherent system, with internal logic and consistency of thought and practice. Though TCM has a long history, it is not easily accepted by Western medicine due to its theoretical and conceptual complexity. TCM nutrition is an ancient but burgeoning discipline, and its main goal is to use food as a means to achieve balance and harmony within the body. Compared with modern nutrition, it has unique beneficial concepts, such as the holism, diet suggestions based on syndrome differentiation, the idea that the spleen-stomach is the "root" of post-heaven, and the homology of medicine and food. Until today, it is difficult to evaluate whether TCM nutrition could play a major role in the treatment of various diseases. The limitations mainly include: the scope of application is limited, lack of evidence-based research, and the constitution differentiation need the cooperation of clinicians of TCM. In contemporary China, the inheritance, innovation, and broadening the scope of applications of TCM nutrition is very important. The government should establish a system in which TCM nutrition and modern nutrition coexist, and perform higher specialist training for dietitians of TCM. Moreover, TCM nutrition should integrate the research methods of modern nutrition, and involve adjustment to target populations, the formulation of age-specific nutrition principles, and an emphasis on the research and development of nutritional food, thus fully demonstrating the advantages and characteristics of TCM nutrition.