Histoire de la diététique (partie 1) La diététique ancienne au service des « humeurs »

Besides surgery and pharmacopoeia, dietetics was historically regarded as one of the three fundamental branches of medical sciences. Development of the ancient diets emerged from converging thoughts of Greek philosophers and physicians. Both had the ambition as to know how they might intervene on the bodily fluids of “humors”. The main objectives were to either maintain or restore an appropriate homeostasis and further to ensure good health in accordance with the Hippocrates's system. By transmitting their scholarship to the Medical School of Salerno, in Italy, Arab physicians largely contributed to disseminate the Hippocrates's dietary principles towards and into the Western countries. This type of dietetics founded on beliefs rather than on evidence-based observations was kept unchanged throughout centuries as far as the early years of the XVIIIth century.