The earliest monograph in the history of dietary therapy in my country titled "Dietotherapeutic Materia Medica" was based on Meng Shen's "Nourishment Prescriptions". Some people may not be familiar with Meng Shen, but His mentor Sun Simiao is well known to everyone.
Sun Simiao was an outstanding medical scientist in the Tang Dynasty. Few people know that he is also a centenarian who lives a long life. He recorded in "Essential Prescriptions for Emergencies": "As a doctor, you should first understand the source of the disease, know its cause, and treat it with food. If food therapy does not cure the disease, then prescribe medicine." It can be seen that the use of food therapy is the most basic treatment methods. His longevity may be related to his emphasis on dietary therapy. In his "Essential Prescriptions for Emergencies", there is a special volume on "Food Treatment". Sun Simiao's emphasis on dietary therapy naturally influenced his disciple Meng Shen.
In the first year of Shangyuan (674), Meng Shen met the famous doctor Sun Simiao and treated him as a teacher, thereby being influenced by his medical thoughts.
When Meng Shen was serving as the minister of Fengge, he saw the gold given to him by the imperial court at the home of Liu Ye, the minister of Fengge. He recognized at a glance that it was not real gold and said bluntly: "This medicine gold Also, if fire burns it, there should be five colors.” After testing, it turned out to be true. After Wu Zetian found out about this, she resented it being exposed by Meng Shen, and then found an excuse to demote him to Taizhou Sima. This incident reflects that Meng Shen was familiar with the alchemy of the time and had extensive experience in identifying certain chemical substances.
In the early years of Shenlong (705), he retired to Yiyang Mountain and specialized in medicine and health research. His famous saying about health care is "Keep good words out of your mouth and good medicine out of your hands". In his later years, his memory and physical strength were that of a man in his prime. His longevity is comparable to that of his master, and he died at the age of 93.
"Dietotherapeutic Materia Medica" records about 260 kinds of rich and diverse foods such as fruits and vegetables, rice, cereals, birds and animals, fish and insects, etc., and introduces the taboos and taboos of these foods based on practical experience. Medicinal value. It is a dietary therapy work that combines dietary preferences and dietary taboos into one book, as well as dietary prescriptions and physical therapy. Once this book came out, it was highly valued by medical scientists of all ages. Worth reading for everyone.