Abstract

The classification of substances in terms of yin or yang predominance has a major importance in TCM therapy and is often carried out according to the effect produced after their use, i.e., heating or cooling of the body, but there is still no specific method of analysis. Biocrystallization is a method of qualitative informational analysis of food that we propose it through this work as a possible tool for highlighting the predominance of yin / yang. This is the first work to find a method of analysis for determining yin/yang. We started from the results obtained in the period 2017-2020 in which a series of 55 sources of medicinal mineral waters from Romania were analyzed by biocrystallization, harvesting 93 samples and performing 991 biocrystallization plates. These data were correlated with the information in the literature concerning physico-chemical parameters and pharmacodynamic properties, on the basis of which the waters were framed in mineral waters predominantly yin or yang. It is known that biocrystallization was developed primarily as a method of analyzing the morphogenetic forces associated with the analyzed substrate, which from the point of view of the TCM specific terminology includes the yin/yang concept. The visual sensory analysis of biocrystallization tests for food, according to ISO 17025, 11035 and 8587 allows an evaluation of their overall quality, translatable also in terms of vitality, movement, dynamism. Starting from these indicators, we identify those specific to the predominance of yin or yang. In our study biocrystallisation allowed a statistically significant differentiation (t-test 1: p-value (one tailed)=2.98501E-10= 0.0000000000299; t-test 2. p-value (two tailed)=5.97002E-10=0.000000000597) of mineral waters predominantly yang from those predominantly yin.

Keywords:Yin; Yang; TCM; Biocrystallization; Medicinal mineral waters

Abbreviation:AC: Acid-Carbonic Mineral Waters; BSP: Branched Specific Pattern; CCD: Copper Chloride Dihydrate; CS: Chloride-Sodium Waters; CST: Thermal Chloride-Sodium Waters; DSP: Dendritic Specific Pattern; MSP: Multicenter Specific Pattern; NS: Nervous System; PCSP: Poorly Coordinated Specific Pattern; TCM: Traditional Chinese Medicine