Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Dietetic Therapy

for Coronary Heart Disease

Ze Zhang

, Ruitong Cai

, Suning Li

, Hongxin Zhao

and Xu Tong

Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China

Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China

The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province,

China

Keywords: Coronary Heart Disease, Dietetic Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Abstract: Coronary heart disease is a serious threat to human health, and its morbidity and mortality are increasing

rapidly in recent years. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) physical constitution theory is an important part

of TCM basic theory. Dietetic therapy plays an important role in the treatment of coronary heart disease. The

aim of this paper is to study dietetic therapy for patients suffering from coronary heart disease with different

constitution, and the corresponding dietetic therapy for patients with coronary heart disease with different

seasons and different regions. Taking the TCM constitution identification as the core, we separately study the

suitable diet of patients with coronary heart disease with different constitution of Qi-deficiency, Yang-

deficiency, Yin-deficiency, damp heat, phlegm-dampness, Qi stagnation, blood stagnation, and specific

constitution.Secondly, according to the different seasons and residence of patients with coronary heart disease,

the reasonable diet is studied.It turned out that coronary artery disease patients could benefit from a

combination of diet and medication.

1 INTRODUCTION

Coronary heart disease is connected with coronary

atherosclerosis, resulting in myocardial blood supply

and oxygen supply disorders. Clinically, it is

collectively referred to as coronary atherosclerotic

heart disease or ischemic heart disease with coronary

functional changes such as coronary artery spasm.

Coronary heart disease is a serious threat to

human health. The incidence and mortality of

coronary heart disease patients in China has been

increasing rapidly in recent 30 years. The rapid

development of modern medicine makes the

intervention measures of coronary heart disease

widely used. Some effective primary and secondary

preventive measures have also gained popularity. The

mature use of PCI and CABG in recent years has led

to mortality decline of coronary heart disease.

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However, there is no denying that coronary heart

disease still plagues many patients and becomes a

serious burden on individuals and society.

The modern medical treatment of coronary heart

disease has the following aspects: risk factor control,

drug treatment, revascularization, diet, exercise and

other general prevention and treatment. The ABCDE

principle centered on drug therapy runs through all

aspects of the treatment of coronary heart disease.

However, the systemic standard drug treatment has

put patients under great economic pressure, and the

risk and long-term adverse effects of interventional

therapy has been criticized. At the same time, the side

effects of multiple drugs is more common, and the

interaction resulting from taking a variety of drugs

together makes the patients' compliance greatly

reduced.

164

Zhang, Z., Cai, R., Li, S., Zhao, H. and Tong, X.

Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Dietetic Therapy for Coronary Heart Disease.

DOI: 10.5220/0011237700003438

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Health Big Data and Intelligent Healthcare (ICHIH 2022), pages 164-168

ISBN: 978-989-758-596-8

2 TRADITIONAL CHINESE

MEDICINE DIETETIC

THERAPY IS THE BENEFICIAL

SUPPLEMENT OF THE

INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE

THERAPY ON CORONARY

HEART DISEASE

The traditional characteristic therapy of coronary

heart disease is the great treasure of traditional

Chinese medicine. Under the guidance of the

theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine,

diet therapy has played an important role in the

treatment of coronary heart disease. Traditional

Chinese Medicine dietetic therapy opens a new path

in the treatment of coronary heart disease and plays

an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of

clinical diseases.

The traditional Chinese medicine has such

advantages as"simple, convenient, effective and

cheap".Traditional Chinese medicine dietetic

characteristic therapy developed in the long-term

medical practice, which embodies its "simple,

convenient, effective and cheap ". Due to the precise

effect of dietetic therapy, the application of dietetic

therapy for coronary heart disease angina pectoris has

been paid more and more attention in recent years.

3 IMPLEMENTATION OF

TRADITIONAL CHINESE

MEDICINE（TCM）

DIETETIC THERAPY

3.1 General Dietetic Therapy of

Coronary Heart Disease

Patients with coronary heart disease diet should

follow the principle of low salt and low fat, the daily

diet should be light, mainly vegetables, fruits and soy

products. Try to eat as little or no foods high in animal

fat and cholesterol, such as lard, animal offal, egg

yolk, cheese, and butter.Patients with coronary heart

disease can supplement their protein by eating lean

meat, fish, and eggs. Fish oil contains unsaturated

fatty acids which can affect human lipid metabolism

and reduce serum cholesterol and triglyceride, thus

protect vessels, prevent and treat coronary heart

disease. A healthy diet and reasonable weight can

reduce risk factors for CHD.

In addition, there are some traditional Chinese

medicine with lipid-lowering effect can be drunk as a

tea substitute, such as lotus leaves, cassia seed,

hawthorn, Salvia miltiorrhiza, twisted blue,

Polygonum multiflorum, radices puerarire,

chrysanthemum, knotweed, manyprickle

acanthopanax root, safflower.

Figure 1: General dietetic Therapy of coronary heart disease.

3.2 Dietary Conditioning of Patients

with Coronary Heart Disease with

TCM Constitution Recognition as

Its Core

Traditional Chinese medicine divides the human

constitution into nine kinds, respectively balanced

constitution, Qi-insufficiency constitution, Yang-

deficiency constitution, Yin deficiency constitution,

damp heat constitution, phlegm-dampness

constitution, Qi stagnation constitution, stagnant

blood constitution, the specific constitution.

Traditional Chinese medicine constitution is innate

inherited, but can be changed through acquired diet

and living habits. Patients with coronary heart disease

usually have a variety of coexisting constitution. By

distinguishing the biased TCM constitution of

patients with coronary heart disease, adjusting the

constitution of patients from their eating habits can

Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Dietetic Therapy for Coronary Heart Disease

165

make the human body reach a peaceful state and

improve the symptoms of coronary heart disease.

Balanced constitution: Balance your body, never

beyond surplus; balance diet and do not overdo it;

don't eat too much or get too hungry; live a regular

life, quit smoking and limit alcohol.

Qi-insufficiency constitution: The main features

of the patients were fatigue, shortness of breath,

spontaneous perspiration and so on. The main

aftercare is to invigorate qi. Eat more food with the

effect of replenishing qi and invigorating the spleen,

such as soybean, chicken, mushroom, jujube, longan.

Eat less radish. Don't overwork to avoid damaging

your vital qi. People with this constitution can use

astragalus and ginseng to cook porridge.

Yang-deficiency constitution: Patients whose

hands and feet are not warm,feel cold frequently.

Patients with lassitude are fond of eating hot food.

The main aftercare is to warm and enhance yangqi.

More sun exposure in spring and summer can

supplement yangqi. Eating more mutton, walnuts,

leeks, ginger and other food that can warm Yang.

Drinking less cold drinks and eating less cold food are

beneficial to increasing yang qi.Try to avoid drinking

strong tea, because some tea is cold and will damage

yangqi. And strong tea contains more caffeine,

resulting in sympathetic excitement, which is

unfavorable for patients with coronary heart disease.

Yin deficiency constitution: The main features are

dry mouth and dry throat, hot hands and feet, and so

on. This kind of patients should pay attention to eat

lean pork, duck meat, winter melon and other cool

moisturizing food, eat less dog meat, pepper, chilli

and other dry nature-flavour food.

Damp heat constitution: The main features are oil-

skin, bitter taste in the mouth, yellowish fur and other

damp-heat performance. The main aftercare is to clear

heat and detoxify, and the most important thing is

prevention. This kind of patients should light diet, and

drink more boiled water, tea and eat small red beans,

green beans, celery, cucumber and so on. Also eat less

dog meat, chili, pepper, zanthoxylum and other sweet

and hot food such as hot pot, fried food.Drink less and

avoid damp living conditions.

Phlegm-dampness constitution: The main features

are fat body, fat abdomen, sticky and greasy sensation

in the mouth, greasy fur and other phlegm dampness

performance. The main aftercare is to invigorate

spleen and remove dampness. This kind of patients

should light diet, eat less fat meat and sweet, greasy

food and eat more kelp,coix seed and so on.

Qi stagnation constitution: The main features are

depression anxiety and fragility and other qi

stagnation performance. The main aftercare is to

relieve liver qi stagnation and balance mood. “ Seek

your salve where you get your sore”. This kind of

patients should focus on psychological adjustment

and can eat food with the function of promoting qi,

relieving depression, promoting digestion and waking

up the mind such as daylily, rose, scented tea.

People with Qi stagnation constitution should not

always stay at home and they should try to increase

outdoor activities or group activities, such as running,

climbing, swimming and martial arts. They also

should keep a regular sleep and avoid drinking tea,

coffee and cocoa before going to bed.

Stagnant blood constitution: The main features are

the dark skin color, dark purple tongue and other

blood stasis performance. The main aftercare is to

promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis.

“pain is caused by blockage of channels, remove the

blockage, then no pain”. This kind of patients can eat

food with the function of activating blood, removing

toxin, promoting qi and relieving liver qi stagnation

such as Hawthorn, vinegar, kelp and rose. Also they

should eat less fat meat and other greasy food. People

with such constitution can use notoginseng to boil

water to improve blood stasis.

The specific constitution:the main aftercare is to

strengthen physical fitness to avoid allergy. What is

called “take timely measures to prevent exogenous

pathogens”. Usually, pay attention to avoid contact

with allergens and the room should be good

ventilation.Try to avoid eating seafood, mango,

pineapple and other foods that are easy to cause

allergies.

Food has four properties and five flavors.

Choosing appropriate attributes of food according to

the constitution can adjust the balance of Yin and

Yang, so that the partial constitution can be corrected.

Traditional Chinese medicine dietetic therapy is not

only beneficial to patients with coronary heart

disease, but also of great significance for the

prevention of coronary heart disease.

It is worth noting that in the process of improving

the constitution of patients with coronary heart

disease through traditional Chinese medicine diet

therapy, we should pay close attention to the dynamic

changes of patients' physical fitness, and make dietary

adjustments in time. For example, people with damp

heat constitution should eat little cold food. However,

long-term consumption of cold food will consume

Yang Qi. If you can not make the adjustment of the

diet plan in time, it will change the constitution to qi

deficiency constitution and Yang deficiency

constitution. Therefore, the principle of "discontinued

in the medium term" should be followed in the

process of dietary therapy for patients with coronary

heart disease.

ICHIH 2022 - International Conference on Health Big Data and Intelligent Healthcare

166

Figure 2: TCM constitution dietary therapy for patients with CHD.

Figure 3: Seasonal and regional dietary therapy for patients with CHD.

3.3 A Reasonable Diet for Patients with

Coronary Heart Disease Combined

with Seasonal and Regional

Characteristics

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes the whole

theory and unity between man and nature. Nature has

different climate in spring, summer, autumn and

winter, and food has different property and flavor.

Therefore, the diet and health care should be adapted

to the seasonal climate in order to prevent diseases.

Yang qi blooms in spring and body striae loose

and easy to be intruded by external pathogenic

factors. Therefore, it is not advisable to use pungent

and warming drugs, such as Ginger, garlic and onion.

In hot summer, excessive water evaporation of the

human body leads to body fluid loss. It is suitable to

choose foods that clear heat, produce body fluid and

easy to digest, such as fish, porridge, lotus root,

watermelon.

The autumn climate is getting cooler and drier. We

should choose the foods that have the function of

producing fluid such as dairy products, eggs, pears,

honey.

The winter changes from cool to cold and Yin qi

prosperous and Yang qi declines. The human body

striae is dense and the Yang qi converges. Food

should be warm and can be matched with cattle,

sheep, chicken and so on. Eat less cold food to

prevent injury to Yang Qi.

China has a vast geographical area, different

climate conditions and living habits. Plain Questions

（Suwen）said “The weather in the northwest is cold

and warm drugs should be used. The weather in the

southeast is warm and cold drugs should be used. ” In

the northwest, more cattle, sheep and other warm

food should be chosen. In the southeast, Many

diseases are out-cold and in-heat type;dietetic therapy

should pay attention to disperse out-cold and clear in-

heat. The southeast is low-lying and warm and rainy.

These lead to loose striae, yangqi leakage, and easy

Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Dietetic Therapy for Coronary Heart Disease

167

to produce damp-heat. Therefore, dietetic therapy

should pay attention to the use of less acrid taste for

dispersing foods, more choice of foods to clear heat

and remove dampness, such as balsam pear, yam, wax

gourd.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Some Chinese patent medicines can also play a role

in lowering blood lipids, such as Xuezhikang

capsules, Zhibitai. These drugs are able to reduce

total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, and can raise

HDL cholesterol.

Taking the constitution, season and region of

traditional Chinese medicine as the cut-in point,

dietetic therapy for patients with coronary heart

disease can effectively improve the symptoms and is

expected to improve life expectancy. Based on the

idea of "medicine and food are of the same origin" ,

the patients' compliance with the therapy is high,

which reduces the patients' worries about the side

effects of the medicine. In the future, the research on

Chinese Medicine dietotherapy should be more in-

depth.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1.Natural Science Foundation Project of Liaoning

Provincial Science and Technology Department （

2019-ZD-0969）

2.Shenyang Science and Technology Bureau

Public Health R & D Project（20-205-4-080）

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