Abstract

  Today's major health care problems are increasingly the result of acute and chronic conditions related to poor nutrition and/or overconsumption. A large proportion of coronary disease and cancer can be attributed to unhealthy eating habits and obesity. Chronic diseases continue to increase due to such factors as the rise in obesity in the global population.

  Individualized diet therapy can provide the patient important insight into food-related illnesses and education regarding how various nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat, alcohol) affect illness, diseases, or obesity. Dietary therapy (Ilaj bil Ghiza) can be tailored to meet the treatment needs of patients on diagnosis of specific illnesses, can help reduce complications and/or side effects, and can improve general well-being.

  The Unani system of medicine believes that a physician is not the healer but an assistant to nature Tabiyat (physique) of the body, which is the true healer hence the diet should be in accordance with it. Diets have been mentioned according to various stages of life to maintain the digestive system at its best. Unani dietary therapy deals with certain ailments by treating them with specific diets or by regulating the quantity and quality of food.

  Ibn-e-Sina (Avicenna) wrote, "Most illnesses arise solely from long-continued errors of diet and regimen." The manner in which foods affect the body is viewed in Unani from a simple yet highly interesting viewpoint.

  In this paper efforts have been made to elaborate the concept of Dietary Therapy (Ilaj bil Ghiza) in Unani system of medicine as well as its importance, classifications, terms and benefits.

Keywords: Unani; Ilaj Bil Ghiza; Dietary Therapy; Tabiyat; Ibn-e-Sina

References

1. Venes D. Taber’s Encyclopedic Medical Dictionary. 21st ed. USA. America: FA Davis Company Philadelphia (2009): 644-649.
2. Davis. Dietotherapy and Food in Health; P. Blakiston’s Son and Co. Philadelphia (1909): 17-18.
3. Hamdani SM, Kamaluddin Hussain, Ussole Tib and Ali Manzil. Muslim, University, Aligarh. (1980): 425-428,39,406,214.
4. Wiiliams SR. Basic Nutrition and Diet therapy, 10th ed. Mosby-Year book, Inc. USA. (1995): 5.
5. Boping Wu. Chinese Medicated Diet a Historical Prospective 3 (2005).
6. Roohi Zaman., et al. “Dieto Therapy in Unani System of Medicine”. IJPCBS 3.4 (2013): 1035-1039.
7. Ansari AP., et al. “Ilaj bil Ghiza (Dietotherapy): A Core Mode of Unani Treatment”. Journal of Advanced Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacology Interventions 2 (2018).
8. Standard Unani treatment guidelines for common diseases, Volume-II, Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, New Delhi (2016): 185-187.

Citation

Citation: Usama Akram and N Quddusi. “Importance of Dietary Therapy (Ilaj Bil Ghiza) in Unani System of Medicine". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 4.2 (2020): 183-188.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Usama Akram and N Quddusi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.