The five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine correspond to the five internal organs: sour into the liver, bitter into the heart, sweet into the spleen, pungent into the lung, salty into the kidney, and properly eaten. The five flavors can nourish the five internal organs, but the taste is more harmful. On the contrary, the sudden change of taste is often a health warning issued by the viscera.
The original taste of liver is sour. Eating something sour properly has a certain nourishing effect on the liver. The food in Shanxi and Shaanxi is sour, because the local climate is dry and the body fluid is fragile. Proper acid consumption can nourish vaginal fluid. But excessive acidophilia can easily lead to liver failure and qi stagnation. Sudden love of sour taste may be a reflection of liver problems.
The sour taste is astringent. Eating too much sour taste will also hinder the normal physiological function of the stomach, affect digestion and cause a series of spleen and stomach problems.
Modern research shows that moderate consumption of sour food can promote digestive function and enhance the detoxification ability of the liver. Flavoring vinegar also has the function of inhibiting or killing bacteria and viruses. However, excessive consumption of sour food will cause gastrointestinal spasm, digestive dysfunction, and even gastritis, peptic ulcer and other diseases.
Bitter taste enters the heart and has the functions of clearing heat, drying dampness and strengthening yin. The summer heat and humidity in Guangdong and Guangxi are heavier, so there is a custom of drinking herbal tea to dispel summer heat and clear the heart fire.
Bitter taste, mostly the expression of heart fire, common symptoms are: palpitation, insomnia, dreaminess, aphtha, red tongue tip and so on. Although bitter food has certain nutritional value, it is mostly cold. Long-term indulgence in bitterness not only damages the mood, but also aggravates the symptoms of spleen and stomach deficiency and cold, such as loss of appetite, abdominal cold pain, diarrhea and so on.
Proper consumption of sweet taste can nourish the spleen and stomach. People who like sweetness have more spleen and stomach deficiency and cold. Dr Wanquan in Ming Dynasty suggested that children often have liver depression and spleen deficiency, so they like sweetness.
Jiangsu and Zhejiang are near the sea, with low terrain and humid climate, which is easy to hurt the spleen and stomach, so people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang like to eat sweet and light food.
Clinically, patients with spleen and stomach diseases can also see that they want to eat sweets, and most of the herbs that strengthen the spleen and replenish qi have sweet taste, such as yam, astragalus and jujube. However, eating too much fat and sweet is easy to turn into phlegm and dampness, which will hinder qi movement and affect spleen and stomach transport.
Modern research shows that sugar is the main source of human energy, which can make people feel excited, help relieve stress and bring people a sense of pleasure and happiness. However, excessive intake of sugar is related to the increased risk of many diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, gout, hypertension, heart disease and stroke.
Pungent taste can relieve exterior qi and regulate qi and blood. For example, Sichuan is mountainous and prone to miasma. Locals like to eat spicy food to regulate their qi and blood and emit miasma. Lung disease is pungent, and suddenly the appetite for pungent taste is greatly increased, which is often a natural choice for physiological needs to promote lung qi to relieve symptoms. For example, onions and ginger are pungent in nature and pungent in the lungs, which can spread the lungs and clear the nose, and treat nasal congestion and runny nose with unfavorable lung qi.
However, long-term preference for spicy food can easily lead to lung qi excess, qi dissipation and mental fatigue. The common symptoms are: backache, numbness, fatigue, dizziness and so on. In addition, it is easy to cause gastrointestinal diseases and anorectal diseases.
Salty into the kidney, the right amount of salty taste has a nourishing effect on the kidney. The northern region is cold, and the taste of dishes and people is often salty, which is related to the fact that salty can tonify kidney, turn yang into cold, and enhance the cold resistance of human body.
Patients with kidney disease are not sensitive to salty and sour taste, so it is easy to taste too salty. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that long-term salty taste will damage kidney essence, further affect other viscera, and may also cause hypertension, heart disease, asthma, chronic kidney disease and so on. Usually, we should consciously reduce the intake of salt, light diet, and prevent the taste buds from being dull, forming a vicious circle of eating more and more salty.