It means that many foods are also medicines, and there is no definite dividing line between them. Ancient medical experts applied the theory of "four nature" and "five flavors" of traditional Chinese medicine to food, believing that every food also has "four nature" and "five flavors". The theory of homology of medicine and food comes from the "Huangdi Neijing Taisu" in the Tang Dynasty. which states that "when an empty stomach eats food, it is food; when patients eat it, it is medicine", reflecting the thinking of "the same origin of medicine and food". "The homology of medicine and food" means that Chinese medicine and food originate together. "Huainan zi xiu wu xun" said: "Shen Nong tastes the taste of the hundred herbs, and the water spring is bitter, so that the people know it to avoid it. When this happens, one There are seventy poisons in the day." It can be seen that the medicines of the Shennong era are not divided into foods, and those who are not poisonous can be used. The theory of homology of medicine and food is endless. The legend of Shennong in the ancient times reflects the exploration of the functions of Chinese ancestors' food and medicine. "The drug is also food, the food is also a drug, the side effects of the food are small, and the side effects of the drug are large. It is another meaning of homology of medicine and food.

List of medicines and foods (2017 version)

Clove, anise, sword bean, ginseng, cumin, soil field thistle, yam, hawthorn, purslane, black tip snake, ebony, papaya, fire maren, seville orange flower, jade, bamboo, liquorice, angelica dahurica, gingko, white hyacinth bean, white hyacinth bean flowers, longan meat (longan), cassia seed, lily, nutmeg, cinnamon, emblic leafflower fruit, bergamot, almonds, sweet, bitter, hippophae rhamnoides, oysters, Gordon euryale seed, Chinese prickly ash, rice bean, donkey-hide gelatin, chicken's gizzard-membrane, malt, kelp, jujube, jujube, zizyphus jujube, black), fructus momordicae, bunge cherry seed, honeysuckle, shawl, cordate houttuynia, ginger, ginger, dried ginger, hovenia dulcis thunb, medlar, gardenia, amomum villosum, boat-fruited sterculia, Poria cocos, citron, Chinese mosla herb, peach kernel, mulberry leaf, mulberry fruit, tangerine peel, radish seed, radix platycodi, fructus alpiniae oxyphyllae, lotus leaf, lotus seed, galangal, herba lophatheri, SSP, chrysanthemum, chicory, yellow mustard, rhizoma polygonati, Perilla, Perilla seed, radix puerariae, black sesame seed, black pepper, sophora japonica, sophora japonica, dandelion, fresh honey, pea, zizyphus jujube kernel, cogongrass rhizome, fresh rehmannia root, viper, orange peel, mint, coix seed, scallions, raspberry, ageratum, white rose eggplant.

Simply speaking, the meaning of medicine and food homology is; Food and medicine.