[Relation between 5 flavors and channel tropism in some traditional Chinese drugs]

In the present paper, the relationship between five flavors and channel tropism is statistically studied for 261 traditional Chinese drugs which are reported to have only on flavor in the Chinese Pharmacopeia (1990 edition). The results show that in attribution there are considerable differences between the law of bitter and the law of acrid, between the law of sweet and law of salty, and between the law of acrid and the law of salty, while the laws of other pairs of flavors are similar. The laws of channel tropism are considerably affected by the mergence of exterior and interior channels. The relationship between five flavors and channel tropism is thus widely divergent from that held by the traditional theory of five elements.