"In the past people thought of food mainly in terms of providing nutrition and satisfying their appetite. But recent research is starting to focus on the health functions of particular ingredients in food," says Yang. The herbal foods in traditional Chinese dietary culture are an important source of special healthful ingredients.
「以前人們認為食物能提供營養素和滿足食慾，最近研究則開始重視食物中特殊成份的保健功能」，楊乃彥說，中國食養文化中的草本食品正是特殊保健成份的重要來源。