Nutritional Care in Traditional Mongolian Medicine: Historical Foundations and Conceptual Framework Development-A...

Nutritional care has long been a fundamental component of Traditional Mongolian Medicine (TMM), reflecting a holistic understanding of health, diet, and disease prevention. This study aimed to examine the historical and conceptual foundations of nutritional care in TMM and to develop a conceptual framework based on historical TMM texts.

Historical research was conducted using Berg's seven-stage historical research framework and primary TMM texts dating from the sixth to the twentieth centuries. Recurrent concepts related to food, beverages, nutrition, and health maintenance were identified and analyzed through concept analysis. The resulting concepts were synthesized using concept mapping to develop a conceptual framework of nutritional care in TMM.

Historical analysis revealed the progressive development and refinement of nutritional knowledge throughout the evolution of TMM. Five recurrent concepts were identified: cosmological foundations of nourishment, bodily balance and humoral regulation, dietary classification, contextualized nutritional assessment, and therapeutic nutritional care. These concepts were integrated into a conceptual framework structured around four interrelated domains: nutritional assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation.

This study provides a systematic conceptualization of nutritional care grounded in TMM and proposes a framework that organizes its historical principles into a coherent model. The framework offers a foundation for future empirical studies examining the application and relevance of TMM-based nutritional care in contemporary healthcare contexts.