• 한국식생활문화학회지
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.438-449
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• 2013

During the Joseon Dynasty, medicinal foods derived from herbs were often more effective than traditional medicines. In addition, the royal family of the Joseon Dynasty believed that foods could be used as various disease treatments. Grain-based foods, especially medicinal porridges (藥粥), were most frequently used for diet therapy. We investigated various types of diet-related diseases suffered by King Injo (仁祖) as well as how the diseases were treated using medicinal porridges based on information in the SeungjeongwonIlgi (承政院日記), which is the daily record of the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty. This study examined the SeungjeongwonIlgi of King Injo from his1st year (1623) to 27th year (1649) on a website database maintained by the National Institute of Korean History. According to the records, King Injo suffered from severe diarrhea several times due mainly to febrile disease (煩熱症) as well as abdominal dropsy (脹滿) throughout his entire life. Major diseases affecting King Injo were due to his unhealthy eating habits and psychological factors. For treatment, royal doctors prescribed around 15 medicinal porridges, including nelumbo (seed) porridge (Yeonja-juk), milk porridge (Tarak-juk), Chinese dioscorea porridge (Sanyak-juk), mungbean porridge (Nokdu-juk), perilla seed porridge (Imja-juk), adzuki-bean porridge (Pat-juk), soybean porridge (Kong-juk), Korean-leek porridge (Buchu-juk), and so on, in addition to other medical treatments. Diet therapy using medicinal porridges has been used throughout history since the Joseon Dynasty period. However, knowledge of traditional diet therapy and medicinal porridges used by monarchs in the Joseon Dynasty is insufficient. Therefore, in-depth study is needed to understand the theory of traditional medicinal foods as well as explore their application to patients in the context of modern medicine.

• 한국의사학회지
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.11-22
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• 2010

This study finds an interesting fact that five symptoms (smallpox, postpartum pain, eye disease, swollen symptom and parasite infection) mentioned in Ryu Ei-Tae Medicinal Tales and his prescriptions (steamed rice, loess, soybean sprouts, cinnabar, radish, sesame oil and pork) were dramatized on the basis of traditional Korean medicinal knowledge in the Joseon Dynasty. Based on the study of experience-based medicinal literatures popular in the Joseon period, it is confirmed that the prescriptions are actually effective. Also it is inferred that popular diseases at that time were abscess, difficult baby delivery, postpartum pain and parasite infection, which were regarded as almost incurable diseases to ordinary people. These stories also showed destitution of common people who could not afford to buy medicines at that time. As shown in the Ryu Ei-Tae Medicinal Fable, many people might try various ordinary materials around them such as soil or nose wax. One of the outcomes of this study is that the fact that the tales mentioned common materials easy to get in the surroundings such as steamed rice, sesame oil, soybean sprouts or radish could be interprets as care and consideration of medicinal doctors for ordinary people at that time.

• 한국의사학회지
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2012

The late Goryeo and Early Joseon period marks the development of Hyang-yak medicine in medical history in Korea. There have been not a few outcomes in organizing Hyang-yak medicine through the hitherto research works, but there has hardly any attempt to view the medicine in the late Goryeo and Early Joseon period from a different standpoint besides Hyang-yak. This writer, in the middle of doing research on 'Book for Alimentotherapy' named "Sikuisikgam", came to know that not a few parts of this book were quoted in a large volume of "Biebaekyobang" in the late Goryeo, "Hyangyakjipseongbang" which compiled the early Joseon Hyangyak medicine, "Uibangyuchi" which wrapped up the medical knowledge in East Asia before the early Ming Dynasty, and "Sikryochangyo" which was a representative book for alimentotherapy in the early period of Joseon Dynasty. The reason that the representative medical books written in the period of Late Goryeo and Early Joseon thought much of the knowledge contained in "Sikuisikgam" is that they showed a great concern for prevention and treatment of diseases through alimentotherapy. When we say that Hyangyak medicine, which has provided the Late Goryeo and Early Joseon medicine, bases its standard on 'Regionality' and 'Properties of Medicinal ingredients', then alimentotherapy puts its focus on a 'Remedial method' itself. As for food, they might have given priority to the food that was easy to get nearby, so there is no way for alimentotherapy but to have the realm which is overlapped with Hyangyak medicine in some measure, That's the very reason why alimentotherapy has remained inseparate from Hyangyak medicine. Through 'Alimentotherapy' and Late Goryeo and Early Joseon medical books, this writer thinks that it might be possible for us to take a view of the Late Goryeo and Early Joseon not only from the perspective of Hyangyak medicine but also from a new perspective of so-called alimentotherapy.

• 대한예방한의학회지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.125-135
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• 2013

Objectives : Medical treating with eating foods is one of important therapies in East Asian traditional medical knowledge and is referred as a therapy to treat diseases through foods. Since the food cannot be separated from ordinary people living, the medical treating with eating foods is a therapy with strong locality and contains many autogenous parts. Methods : Recently, the world is showing much interest for genetic resources, and the concept of intellectual property is rapidly expanding as the field of 'new knowledge property right' as well. Thus, the knowledge of medical treating with eating foods recently draws much attention in the economic aspect beyond the scholarly interest for traditional medicine. Here, I would like to summarize and report the contents related to medical treating with eating foods on "Yi, SeikKan experience prescriptions" which was discovered before. Results & Conclusions : First, medical treating with eating porridge on "Yi, SeikKan experience prescriptions" is classified into one with nonglutinous rice as the main ingredient and the other with other grains as the main ingredient. It is differently utilized depending on the nature of the grain. Second, medical treating with eating rice on "Yi, SeikKan experience prescriptions" was born from our nation's unique way of living and is classified into one way to eat rice mixed with ground medicinal herbs, another one to cook and eat rice with mixed grains and the other way to use as the external application. Medical treating with eating rice is assumed to replace the meal. Third, "food section" was given separately and discussed in this book. There were some parts different from existing medical knowledge due to the accumulation of experience using medicinal herbs. Fourth, we should pay attention to experience a book on medicine where vibrant medical information has been recorded in order to discover and process our traditional knowledge resources as a useful form.