[Scientific dietary model innovation based on homology of medicine and food and its application prospects in healthy aging].

Abstract

Against the backdrop of accelerating global population aging and the high prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases, unhealthy dietary patterns have become an important modifiable risk factor affecting population health. The traditional Chinese concept of medicine and food homology aligns closely with the international concept of food is medicine in health promotion, providing an important theoretical foundation for dietary pattern innovation. Based on this, this study constructs a food-medicine dietary pyramid. Grounded in modern nutrition science and centered on TCM dietary therapy theory, it systematically integrates 106 officially released medicinal food substances in China into a five-level dietary structure, ensuring adequate basic nutritional supply while enhancing the functional regulatory role of the diet. The model expands upon the traditional dietary pyramid structure by embedding food-medicine homology substances with clearly defined bioactivities and health effects across different levels, thereby achieving a synergistic effect between daily nutritional intake and body function regulation. At the application level, the food-medicine dietary model follows the principle of "three-factor adaptation", meaning dynamic adjustments according to individual constitution, seasonal variation, and regional environment. Existing studies have provided increasingly robust scientific evidence from molecular mechanisms, clinical trials, and epidemiological research for the health effects of various food-medicine homology substances, thereby supporting the scientific validity of this dietary model. This model can be applied not only in public health promotion and dietary guidance but also in functional food development and nutritional interventions for chronic diseases. The study also highlights implementation challenges such as conservative regulatory approaches, insufficient industrial innovation, and limited public awareness, and proposes a coordinated pathway involving policy, industry, and society. This model offers a low-cost and scalable dietary solution for healthy aging, contributes to "the Healthy China 2030" strategy, and providing Chinese insights for global chronic disease prevention.