Ancient Greek ideas attributed to Hippocrates and Galen placed great importance on diet as foundational for good health. However, what was deemed 'good' to eat was seen as a matter of maintaining balance between the humours. Evidence of humoral thinking can be found in the middle ages and early modern period, and the humours were certainly important in understandings of disease and one's disposition in the past.
The four humours
Four humours are associated with the body: blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler) and black bile (melancholy). Blood was considered the most important humour and was associated with being hot or warm as well as with moisture; phlegm was associated with cold and moisture; yellow bile was associated with warmth and dryness; and black bile was linked to cold and dryness. These humours were very important as they impacted on one's health and disposition. A sanguine (optimistic), energetic disposition was linked to the humour blood; a phlegmatic disposition was (unsurprisingly) linked to phlegm; a strong willed or choleric disposition was linked to yellow bile, and a melancholic disposition was linked to black bile.
The humours were linked to specific areas of the body: blood was linked to the liver, veins and nostrils; phlegm to the stomach and mouth and loin; yellow bile to the bladder, ears and the area near the liver; and black bile was associated with the eyes, the spleen and the area below the liver. The taste of food was also influenced by the humours. Yellow bile was associated with bitterness; blood with sweetness; black bile with sharpness, and phlegm was usually seen as a less pronounced flavour.
Linking the humours to childhood
One's age was one of the factors which impacted on the humours (the seasons were another for instance). From birth and during infancy the child was regarded as warm/moist and this in turn was linked to the child's supposedly tender disposition and weaker bodily strength. All the humoral characteristics were exhibited in children's physiology and constitution during infancy and childhood.
As the child moved into adolescence, however, this was seen as prompting a shift in the balance of the humours. Adolescence was seen as a time especially associated with choler/yellow bile. Youths were regarded as warmer and less moist, and therefore stronger than younger children. The surge in yellow bile in this period was linked to aggression and obstinacy, but also courage. Phlegm, on the other hand, was linked to older age, because this was seen as a period in which a human being is (supposedly) more relaxed.
The humours and foods deemed 'good' for children
Humoral theory emphasised balance. It was deemed important to eat foods that would help to counteract any imbalance in the humours. By eating something with the opposite traits it was possible to restore balance and therefore health to one's body. Milk was regarded as cold and moist, so it was suitable for infants because they were seen to have a warm/moist disposition. If a child was overly phlegmatic the milk needed to be tempered with bread. Foods such as salad vegetables were considered suitable for teenagers as their cold/wet properties were thought to cool the heat of adolescence. It is interesting that Galen thought a good doctor should also be a good cook and he even wrote a treatise on the benefits of barley soup (Grant, 2000).
The impact of humoral theory on children's diets in the past
It is hard to imagine the humours governing the everyday diets of all children in the past. However, if a child became ill and a physician was consulted then this person may well have drawn on humoral thinking to treat the patient. Given that Galen's thinking required a detailed assessment of a person's disposition, diet etc.... it is unlikely poorer families would have been able to afford such a level of consultation. Moreover, the kinds of foods the physician would have recommended may well have been beyond their reach too.
Nevertheless, the idea that what we eat can be linked to our health - both our physical and mental health - is an idea that seems quite 'modern'. Yet still today, as in the past, access to a nutritious and varied diet can be out of reach for the poorest in society.
References
Grant, Mark (2000) Galen on Food and Diet, London: Routledge.
Newton, Hannah (2010) 'Children’s Physic: Medical Perceptions and Treatment of Sick Children in Early Modern England, c. 1580–1720', Social History of Medicine, 23(3): 456-474.
Image credits
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Tom Lemmens The Four Humours (bodily fluids), 2013.
Alchemic approach to four humors in relation to the four elements and zodiacal signs. Book illustration in “Quinta Essentia” by Leonhart Thurneisser zum Thurn, 1574.
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