RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POOR DIGESTION AND DISEASE IN PERSPECTIVE OF GRECOARAB MEDICINE

Ingested food undergoes extensive stage-wise processing inside the body so that it can provide nourishment to the tissues. This stage-wise processing of food in Greco-Arab medicine is known as digestion. Innate heat plays a vital role in digestion. In Greco-Arab medicine, digestion is a broad term that includes digestion as well as the metabolism of food. Physicians like Galen, Rhazes and Avicenna, etc. believed that good digestion plays a key role in corporal and mental well being. In the classical literature of Greco-Arab medicine various diseases are described that are caused by poor digestion. Several skin diseases like acne as well as mental diseases like depression etc. are related to poor digestion. This relationship between poor digestion and disease is attributed to the production of morbid matter. Relevant literary material is collected from the classical literature of Greco-Arab medicine. Present work is an attempt to analyze and systematize the relevant information regarding the relationship between poor digestion and disease.