Traditional Chinese medicine's understanding of food is far more comprehensive and profound than modern nutrition. In addition to the above-mentioned food taste theory, the meridian tropism theory of food also shows that Chinese medicine has a deeper and more scientific understanding of food conditioning and health preservation. For example, people with kidney deficiency, backache and backache often eat some medlar, Eucommia bark, chestnut, pork loin and so on. It is helpful for patients to recover. This is because these foods can enter the kidney meridian and strengthen the kidney and waist. This is the food meridian tropism of traditional Chinese medicine. For another example, patients with lung deficiency and cough and asthma often eat some supplements such as yam, Cordyceps sinensis, lily, pear and pig liver, which is conducive to the recovery of patients. This is because these foods are foods that enter the lung meridian and can nourish, replenish deficiency and moisten the lung.

The performance of food is manifested in the meridian tropism. Tropism of food means that food has a significant selective and specific effect on some zang-fu organs and their meridians, but has little or no effect on other meridians or zang-fu organs. It is based on the effect of food being eaten, combined with the physiological and pathological characteristics of human organs and meridians. The function of food is combined with the meridian tropism of zang-fu organs to show that a drug mainly plays a therapeutic role on some diseases of zang-fu organs and meridians, that is, the main positioning role of food. For example, persimmon and honey can nourish yin and moisten dryness, relieve cough and moisten throat, and cough and expectoration belong to lung, so the above two things belong to lung meridian; Ginger and cinnamon can stimulate appetite, radish and watermelon can promote fluid production to quench thirst, and the stomach is mainly receptive, but the symptoms of moistening dryness, loss of appetite and less thirst belong to the stomach, so the above four items belong to the stomach meridian; Lycium barbarum and pig liver can cure night blindness and blurred vision, jellyfish and chrysanthemum can cure dizziness, while liver can enlighten eyesight, eyes can see clearly when they see blood, and liver fire rises and eyes are red and swollen. All symptoms belong to the liver, so the above four things belong to the liver meridian. Such as walnut kernel, sweet almond and banana, they can moisten dryness and relieve cough, and also have the effect of promoting defecation, and the symptoms of lung dryness, cough and constipation they treat belong to lung and large intestine, so the above three things belong to lung and large intestine.

The effect of food on human body also has its own scope of adaptation. As a tonic, lung, spleen and kidney are also different. Another example is cold food, although it also has the effect of clearing heat, but its scope of application, either focusing on clearing liver heat or clearing lung heat, has its own advantages. Food, like medicine, has two or three meridians. For example, mulberries enter the liver meridian and kidney meridian; Another example is that lotus seeds enter the heart meridian, spleen meridian and kidney meridian.