Editing Human nutrition (section)

=== Antiquity: Start of scientific research on nutrition ===
[[File:Hippocrates pushkin02.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=Stone sculpture of a man's head|[[Hippocrates]] lived in about 400 BC, and Galen and the understanding of nutrition followed him for centuries.]]
Around 3000 BC the [[Vedic texts]] made mention of scientific research on nutrition.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}{{example needed|date=January 2020}} The first{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} recorded dietary advice, carved into a [[Babylon]]ian stone tablet in about 2500 BC, cautioned those with pain inside to avoid eating [[onion]]s for three days. [[Scurvy]], later found to be a [[vitamin C deficiency]], was first described in 1500 BC in the [[Ebers Papyrus]].<ref>{{cite book | title=The Profession of Dietetics | author1=Payne-Palacio, June R. | author2=Canter, Deborah D. | year=2014 | publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning | isbn=978-1-284-02608-5 | pages=3–4}}</ref>

According to [[Walter Gratzer]], the study of nutrition probably began during the 6th century BC. In China, the concept of ''[[qi]]'' developed, a spirit or "wind" similar to what Western Europeans later called ''[[pneuma]]''.<ref name=Gratzer40>Gratzer 2005, p. 40.</ref> Food was classified into "hot" (for example, meats, blood, ginger, and hot spices) and "cold" (green vegetables) in China, India, Malaya, and Persia.<ref name=Gratzer41 /> ''[[Humorism|Humours]]'' developed perhaps first in China alongside ''qi''.<ref name=Gratzer40 /> Ho the Physician concluded that diseases are caused by deficiencies of elements ([[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|Wu Xing]]: fire, water, earth, wood, and metal), and he classified diseases as well as prescribed diets.<ref name=Gratzer41>Gratzer 2005, p. 41.</ref> About the same time in Italy, [[Alcmaeon of Croton]] (a Greek) wrote of the importance of equilibrium between what goes in and what goes out, and warned that imbalance would result in disease marked by [[obesity]] or [[emaciation]].<ref name=Gratzer36>Gratzer 2005, p. 36.</ref>
[[File:Anaxagoras.png|thumb|right|Anaxagoras]]
Around 475 BC, [[Anaxagoras]] wrote that food is absorbed by the human body and, therefore, contains "homeomerics" (generative components), suggesting the existence of nutrients.<ref name=history>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060824032910/http://rcw.raiuniversity.edu/biotechnology/MScBioinformatics/generalnutrition/lecture-notes/lecture-01.pdf ''History of the Study of Nutrition in Western Culture''] (Rai University lecture notes for General Nutrition course, 2004)</ref> Around 400 BC, [[Hippocrates]], who recognized and was concerned with obesity, which may have been common in southern Europe at the time,<ref name=Gratzer36 /> said, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."<ref name="Smith">{{cite journal | title=Let food by thy medicine... | author=Smith, Richard | journal=BMJ | date=24 January 2004 | volume=328 | doi=10.1136/bmj.328.7433.0-g <!-- | pages="0–g" is NOT the actual article page -- DO NOT POST--> | issue=7433 | pages=0–g–0 | pmc=318470}}</ref> The works that are still attributed to him, ''[[Hippocratic Corpus|Corpus Hippocraticum]]'', called for [[moderation]] and emphasized [[Physical exercise|exercise]].<ref name=Gratzer36 />

[[Salt#Edible salt|Salt]], [[Black pepper|pepper]] and other spices were prescribed for various ailments in various preparations for example mixed with vinegar. In the 2nd century BC, [[Cato the Elder]] believed that [[cabbage]] (or the urine of cabbage-eaters) could cure digestive diseases, ulcers, warts, and intoxication. Living about the turn of the millennium, [[Celsus|Aulus Celsus]], an ancient Roman doctor, believed in "strong" and "weak" foods (bread for example was strong, as were older animals and vegetables).<ref name=Gratzer37 />

The [[Book of Daniel]], dated to the second century BC, contains a description of a comparison in health of captured people following Jewish dietary laws versus the diet of the soldiers of the king of [[Babylon]].<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=dan#en-NIV-21743 Daniel 1:5–16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714172525/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=dan#en-NIV-21743 |date=2022-07-14 }}. Biblegateway.com. Retrieved on 17 October 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=McCollum, Elmer V. | title=A History of Nutrition | publisher=The Riverside Press (Houghton Mifflin) | location=Cambridge, Mass. | year=1957 | pages=8–9}}</ref> (The story may be legendary rather than historical.)