O uso terapêutico dos alimentos em meados do século XIX

Abstract

Introduction: During the 19th century, emerged the first information about the chemical substances contained in food. From these discoveries, food hygiene as a therapeutic mean established criteria for the prescription of nitrogen (nitrogen) and carbon (carbon), as well as dietary recommendations in the different life cycles and convalescent states. Objectives: This work sought to analyze how and for what purposes some foods whose chemical composition was characterized by the presence of nitrogen (nitrogen) and carbon (carbon)were prescribed . Methodology: The visiting notebooks (medical records) of vessels found in the Historical Archive of the Portuguese Navy, medical treaties of the period and publications referring to the history of science and nutrition were used as a research source. Results and discussion: In the consulted notebooks (years 1859 and 1863), meals based on animal foods (rich in nitrogen), such as meat and chicken broths, were the most prescribed to patients, as they were based on principles of the fibrinous diet, which promoted tissue repair and growth of organic matter. Final considerations: Over the past two centuries, many theories about the function of food have changed, but a significant part of their assumptions were made during the 19th century.

Keywords

• ciência da nutrição. recomendações nutricionais. dietoterapia. história