Liang you shipin ke-ji (Nov 2022)
A Brief Discussion on the Rules of Sugar Consumption and Health Preservation of Sugar-Containing Medicine in “Yinshan Zhengyao”
Abstract
The book “Yinshan Zhengyao”, written by Hu Sihui, a great doctor of drink and meal in the Yuan Dynasty, recorded a total of 33 kinds of medicine and food added with sweet ingredients. These medicine and food covered all kinds of food from staple food dishes, dietotherapy medicine and meal, decoction drinks to Taoist eating prescriptions. Due to the difference in the situation of sugar and medicine, they were collectively referred to as “sugar containing medicine and food”. “Sugar containing medicine and food” used a variety of sweeteners including “baishatang”, “shatang”, honey, caramel, licorice and so on, attached great importance to distinguishing the occasions and dosage of sugar, and to a certain extent, excavated the effects of sugar and honey, such as Tonifying Qi, moistening dryness, quenching thirst, detoxification and so on. It reflected that the addition and use of sweet ingredients were also regarded as a part of the intervention activities of health preservation and food treatment in “Yingshan Zhengyao”. The activities of medicine and sugar in “ Yingshan Zhengyao” included the health preservation and food treatment ideas of the Yuan Dynasty. The imperial court Yin Shan imperial doctors paid attention to the development of the food treatment functions of all food materials, including sweet ingredients. Therefore, the sugar containing drugs and foods contained in "Yingshan Zhengyao" had diversified health preservation functions, such as pleasant taste, health care function and emotional value. It objectively reflected the development and use of sugar and honey technology in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the characteristics of sugar used in the diet of the Yuan people, and also the evolution and development trend of the concept of sugar used in health care medicine under the background of ethnic integration in the Yuan Dynasty.
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