Food Therapy in Sinosphere Asia

Abstract

Traditional Chinese Food Therapy has long been an integral part of dietary practices in Sinosphere Asia. This therapy is defined by the classification of foods into cooling (Yin) and heaty (Yang) and the manipulation of dietary intake of these foods as a therapeutic strategy for chronic diseases. Both functional dyspepsia (FD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are chronic, functional gut disorders widely prevalent in Sinosphere Asia. Diet is increasingly recognized as a symptom trigger in FD and IBS, and the evidence suggesting the utility of diet therapies as front-line management is growing, particularly in the West. Specifically, a diet low in Fermentable, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols is an efficacious therapy for patients with IBS. In contrast, a proportion of patients with IBS in Sinosphere Asia utilize Chinese Food Therapy for symptom management. Chinese Food Therapy provides an attractive target for integration with evidence-based Western dietary therapies as a management strategy in FD and IBS. However, significant gaps in research exist with the utility of Chinese Food Therapy that first need to be addressed. This includes a lack of standardization for heaty and cooling classification, limited mechanistic rationale or clinical studies supporting its efficacy in FD and IBS, and the lack of an ideal practitioner for implementation of Chinese Food Therapy. Hence, the review provides a summary of the role of diet and nutrition in Sinosphere Asia with an emphasis on FD and IBS, and an examination of how modern dietary practices may be able to be integrated into practices in this region.

Controversies and reality of the FODMAP diet for patients with irritable bowel syndrome

“…Reports are emerging from prospective research where an unstated health professional has delivered the diet with a dietitians acting as troubleshooter to retrospective experience where a nurse trained in delivering the diet has been the sole educator . Unfortunately, access to a dietitian varies across the globe and, even if a dietitian is available, knowledge and training in a low‐FODMAP diet will be highly variable. Such training of dietitians has ranged from self‐education utilizing books or Internet information, face‐to‐face courses, or webinars 1 h to 1 day in duration to detailed educational programs that involve education about IBS, patient assessment, dietary and non‐dietary therapeutic options, and detailed training in how to deliver the diet.…”

The Role of Food in the Treatment of Bowel Disorders: Focus on Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Functional Constipation

“…It should come as no surprise that controlled evidence for their benefit is generally lacking, although it must be conceded that a lack of evidence neither proves nor disproves benefit. Ancient health systems, foreign to modern medicine, such as Indian Ayurveda ( 56 ) and Traditional Chinese Medicine ( 57 ), implement dietary change to improve health status, including gut symptoms. Ayurvedic dietary approaches were subjected to a randomized, controlled comparison with conventional German nutritional therapy, itself uncertain in efficacy, and showed greater symptomatic improvement in patients with IBS ( 56 ).…”

How to Implement the 3-Phase FODMAP Diet Into Gastroenterological Practice

“…For instance, Chinese Food Therapy classifies foods based on the perceived reaction they have in the body and recommends treating GI conditions using Traditional Chinese Medicine, which may not align well with FODMAP principles. 103 Additionally, in many cultures, such as South Asian, it is not common to mea-sure ingredients and portion sizes, and meals are commonly served with side dishes that are shared amongst a table. 94 This can make it difficult to measure an individual's consumption of FODMAPs.…”