Different traditional Chinese medicine constitution is associated with dietary and lifestyle behaviors among adults in Taiwan

Abstract

The World Health Organization states prevention of chronic diseases should be based on good lifestyle behaviors and healthy diets as they can reduce the risk of chronic diseases by 80%. The theory of traditional Chinese medicine constitution (TCMC) emphasizes the congenital differences of TCMC stem from the genes of parents, while acquired differences in TCMC are caused by factors as living environments, lifestyle behaviors, and dietary habits. From the perspective of preventive medicine, this study explores the correlation between dietary habits and lifestyle behaviors as potential risk factors for different types of TCMC—balanced constitution, Yang deficiency, Yin deficiency, and Phlegm stasis. Research data were collected from 2760 subjects aged 30 to 70 years participating in a survey conducted by Taiwan Biobank in 2012 to 2017. The survey included basic demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors, and dietary habits along with a Body Constitution Questionnaire. Compared to men, women were 3 to 4 times more likely to develop Yang-deficiency, Yin-deficiency, and Phlegm stasis. Variables that affected TCMC were smoking, midnight snack consumption, consumption of gravy-soaked or lard-soaked rice/noodles, deep-fried soybean products, bread spread, pickled vegetables as side dishes for the main course of a meal, and the dietary habit of vegetables or fruits instead of high-fat desserts. Poor dietary habits and lifestyle behaviors are the cause of unbalanced TCMCs. Understanding the specific TCMC of individual can provide useful information and predictions to maintain physical health and achieve early disease prevention to meet the goal of preventive medicine.

Impact of Different Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitutions on the Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant: A Retrospective Observational Study

“…Developing an unbalanced constitution may be related to innate individual differences, lifestyle behaviors, and dietary habits. For example, Hsu et al 39 revealed that individuals with a balanced constitution have healthier eating habits, whereas those with yang deficiency, yin deficiency, or phlegm stasis tend to eat more fried foods, bread, pickled foods, stir-fried dishes, and low-sodium foods and eat fewer vegetables or fruits to replace high-fat and sweet foods. People without exercise habits are more likely to have a phlegm-dampness constitution; smokers are more likely to have a yang deficiency, yin deficiency, or phlegm-dampness constitution; and those who eat late at night are more likely to have a yang deficiency or phlegm-dampness constitution.…”

Whole person healthcare as social and environmental justice: new research directions toward a paradigmatic integration of an ecological whole system medicine framework

“…In WSM, the individual as a system is rebalanced to allow for the emergence of longitudinal, system-level, diffuse, indirect, and complex effects in the individual's body and the body-environment interaction (Bell et al, 2012). For instance, the TCM constitution-based approach examines congenital differences through the genetic profile of parents, the acquired differences by factors based on lived environment, lifestyle behaviors, and dietary habits to understand the potential risk factors for TCM constitution-based assessment of individual constitution, yang deficiency, yin deficiency, and phlegm status (Hsu et al, 2022). Its parallel in WPHC might be reflected in a health improvement approach that targets overall health improvement to assess whole-body effects.…”