Chinese Medicine...Damp vs drying foods?

Question

In regards to TCM, I'd appreciate any information on what foods promote dampness in the body?

If you can elaborate on this concept and what damp foods do to the body it would be great.

Thanks

Answer 1

How about this article?

  Alex

THE TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

CONCEPT OF DAMPNESS

E. F. BLOCK IV

JULY 2007

INTRODUCTION

The subject of etiology is study of the origins of disease, the causative factors, in the body. Pathogenesis is the study of the actual processes within the body whereby disease occurs, develops and changes. One of the most central concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is that of the intimate connection between the body of man and the environment within which man lives, works and plays. The physiology of the cells, tissues, zang-fu organs and meridian system of the body is in dynamic internal equilibrium and constantly adjusts to the vagaries of the external environment. If the body is not able to cope with changes in the environment, if the body is not able to adjust to changing external conditions, internal equilibrium will be lost and disease will be the result. Thus, according to the constitution of any particular individual, the presence of disease is due to a lack of adaptability by the physiology of the individual to the conditions of the environment. (1)

TCM etiology lists many factors that are the cause of disease. These include the six exogenous factors, the seven emotions, the lack of physical exercise, an improper diet, traumatic injury, bites of insects and animals, stagnant blood and phlegm fluid. The causative factors will affect the body in a specific manner or ways. These aberrations are the signs and symptoms that are used in order to analyze clinical manifestations. The clinical manifestations provide the basis for the etiology of disease produced by each causative factor.

There is a saying in TCM - "The earth element creates dampness and the metal element stores it." The organs associated with the earth element are the Stomach and Spleen. The organs associated with the metal element are the Lungs and Large Intestine. When dampness is created by impaired digestion, it likes to end up in the Lungs and Large Intestine. When dampness moves into the Lungs, the usual symptom is phlegm coming up while coughing (especially after eating something that is inherently difficult to digest such as a milk shake, other cold dairy products, or greasy foods). When the dampness is stored in the Large Intestine, we find mucus-lined stools, loose stools, sticky stools that are difficult to clean up after, or diarrhea with undigested bits of food in it. Even intestinal rumblings are due to dampness in the intestines. These are all forms of internal dampness. Internal dampness is directly due to the impaired transfomative and transportive function of the Spleen system that then results in some form of pathogenesis within the body, zang-fu organs and meridians.

In Chinese Medicine, dampness is considered to be the cause of many illnesses such as high cholesterol, cancer, metabolic disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, allergies and environmental illness.

DISCUSSION

For the sake of this discussion, only the symptoms of the aberrations of water metabolism will be considered. There are two general categories of Dampness: external and internal. Internal dampness is most common and will easily combine with Heat or Cold to cause Damp-Heat or Damp-Cold. Dampness can be thought of as the condition of "high humidity" inside the body. Symptoms can include a feeling of heaviness, swelling or water retention, distended abdomen, phlegm discharge, nodular masses, loose bowels and turbidity of fluids. Individuals with a Dampness condition often have sluggish energy and easily gain weight. The pulse is commonly slippery; the tongue is often puffy with teeth marks and a greasy tongue coating.

Exposure to damp weather, wearing wet clothes and a humid environment can cause External Dampness to invade. External dampness is a condition of prolonged high humidity that usually occurs in late summer. When exterior Dampness invades the body it tends to do so from the lower extremities first. Damp then works its way up the legs and settles into the lower jiao (lower abdomen) and then spreads throughout the body. Patients often complain of dizziness, a heavy sensation in the head (as if wrapped in a towel), heaviness of the body and soreness, pain and heaviness of the joints. In both cases, external and internal, there may be turbid discharges form the body (such as suppurating sores, weeping eczema, profuse purulent leukorrhea with a four odor, turbid urine and stools containing mucus and even blood). (2) Summer heat with dampness causes dizziness, heaviness in the head, a stifling sensation in the chest, nausea, poor appetite, loose stools, general lassitude, fever, restlessness and thirst.

A collection of dampness and heat may lead to such problems as inflammation, allergies (especially food allergies), high blood sugar, weight gain, and urinary tract infections. Symptoms can include heaviness, a sensation of fullness in the chest, a smelly and sluggish bowel, abdominal pain, leukorrhea, eczema, and deep yellow colored urine. The pulse is often slippery and fast; the tongue is commonly red with a yellow, greasy coating; the nails are often red; the hands are often puffy and red with a mottled appearance with swollen, red cuticles.

Dampness describes a condition of viscosity and stagnation. Patients usually have greasy looking, sticky tongue coating and perhaps a viscous stool that is difficult to void and/or in some manner an obstructed urination. Diseases due to Dampness tend to be prolonged and intractable. Damp is a yin pathogen that impairs yang and easily causes qi stagnation. Signs and symptoms include a sensation of fullness in the chest, epigastric distention, difficult and scanty urination and hesitant and viscous stools. Pathogenic Damp impairs Spleen yang that leads to distention and fullness in the epigastrium and abdomen, poor appetite, loose stools and generalized edema.

What is the difference between Damp, Phlegm Fluids and Water? All three of these concepts refer to the products of the disturbance of water metabolism in the human body, which after being produced will cause further pathologic changes, and thus are regarded as pathogenic factors in TCM. They are often used interchangeably, but they really have some differences and should, therefore, be used differently. Dampness is both a physiological and a pathologic concept in TCM. As a TCM physiological concept it refers to the water received by the Stomach and digested and absorbed by the Spleen, so it is also sometimes called Water Damp. The Stomach likes dampness but the Spleen abhors dampness. As a TCM pathologic concept, it refers to the retained water caused by disturbances of the Spleen, so it is mainly used in the case of water retention due to diseases of the Spleen system. Phlegm fluid retention is a general term for all congealed water metabolism in the human body. This is mainly an indication of retained water that is not directly related to altered Spleen function. For example, we may ascribe the cause of diarrhea to the downward flow of excess dampness from the Stomach/Spleen (Middle Jiao or upper abdomen), or the cause of edema to the outward flow of dampness as a result of a disturbance in the Spleen system. But we usually say the causative factor of scrofula (nodules as thickened, rubbery feeling lymph nodes) is the accumulation of Phlegm Fluids, because this is a disease mainly secondary to stagnation of Liver Qi (which further disturbs water metabolism) instead of being secondary to Spleen disorders. As for Water, it is mainly used to describe the fluid that accumulates in a cavity of the body, such as pleural effusion, ascites or edema that is easily rectified with the return of normal Spleen functionality.

Worry, pensiveness and mental overwork often negatively affect the transporting and transforming function of the Spleen and contribute to deranged water metabolism as internal dampness. Organs of the body other than the Spleen also contribute to the action of water metabolism. The lungs (Upper Jiao or chest cavity) produce arginine-vasopressin that acts on the kidney nephron to alter water balance in the body. Grief and melancholy stifle Lung qi that disrupts the production of arginine-vasopressin. The mineral corticoids of the adrenal glands (part of the TCM Kidneys in the Lower Jiao) also regulate water balance in the body via the kidney nephron. The liver (Lower Jiao) produces angiotensinogen that assists in water balance via the angiotensin-renin-aldosterone system. The kidney (Lower Jiao) produces rennin that assists in the regulation of water balance in the above-mentioned system. Disharmonies between the organ systems of the Lungs, Kidneys and Liver with the Spleen system all cause some form of disrupted water metabolism. The degree of aberration, the length of time of disruption and the systems involved determine the symptoms and progression of pathogenesis within the body. According to TCM, the San Jiao meridian is the pathway for the movement of all fluids within the body. (3) Thus any obstruction in the channels and meridians will ultimately affect water metabolism adversely in some manner. The role of diet in contracting internal Dampness and that of food therapy in combating internal Dampness is well known. Foods that impair digestion, yield food stagnation and in general interfere with the Spleen in some manner contribute to the development of internal Dampness due to the impairment of water metabolism within the body. When one overeats, a condition of food stagnation ensues and the digestive system will not function properly. This gives rise to such clinical manifestations as foul belching, sour regurgitation, distention, bloating, pain in the epigastrium and abdomen, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea. Overindulgence in cold or raw foods can easily impair Spleen yang and leads to the development of interior cold and