It is not clear when the term "combination of food and medicine" came into being, but it seems to have appeared in modern times. In the 1930s, China had already said this. Accompanied by the health care craze, in the 1980s, some arguments of "homology of medicine and food" or "homology of medicine and food" began to appear in China. Similarly, Japanese medicine, which was deeply influenced by China, also had a related exposition of "medicine and food are homologous" in modern times. The concept of "combination of food and medicine" is actually the embodiment of dietotherapy, medicated diet and health preservation in China traditional medicine, which is manifested in the discovery of drugs.

At present, various viewpoints believe that the discovery of drugs is closely related to human foraging activities. From 65438 to 0973, more than 30 kinds of plant seeds were found in the Shang Dynasty site in Taixi Village, Gaocheng, Hebei Province. They are mainly identified as Rosaceae seeds, including peach kernel, dark plum kernel and almond.

There is Wuren Pill in TCM prescription, which consists of peach kernel, dark plum kernel, almond, pine nut kernel and arborvitae kernel. The seeds found in the ruins seem to be a combination of prescriptions. The fruits of these seed plants are the source of food, which indicates that the discovery of these drugs may be related to diet. The discovery of drugs and the origin of food are especially reflected in the allusion "Shennong tasted a hundred herbs". This story shows that people found drugs in the process of looking for food, indicating that the boundaries between food and drugs in the early days were blurred. This understanding is also reflected in the emergence of the division of labor of "food doctors" and the ancient people's understanding of the therapeutic role of food.

China's understanding of "the integration of food and medicine" and the boundary between food and medicine is a process from vague to clear. From the origin of homology of medicine and food, we can see the ancient people's understanding level of food function: firstly, it is non-toxic, edible and provides basic nutrition; Then, other functions of food were discovered: treatment and health care. The "principle" of food processing has been explored for a long time. The ancients believed that food and medicine had the same theory of sexual taste, including four qi and five flavors, meridian tropism, ups and downs, and so on.

Although food and medicine are unified, there are also boundaries. While knowing the boundaries between medicine and food, the ancients formed "dual-purpose" varieties that can be used as medicine as well as medicine, and discussed these varieties in a large number of medical books and materia medica.

The dual-purpose varieties of medicine and food in past dynasties are mainly embodied in dietotherapy and food nutrition, especially food nutrition is the embodiment of health care thought now. At present, with people's attention to health, functional foods with nourishing and disease prevention functions are respected and valued, which also promotes the development of health food industry. Many traditional medicinal and edible varieties have health care functions. In addition, the traditional "combination of food and medicine" has received considerable attention, and the health department has successively promulgated the Catalogue of Commodities that are both food and medicine to regulate this type.

"Combination of food and medicine" is the wisdom summed up by the ancients in the process of discovering food and medicine.