The Four Primary Humours

[akh.laat]

An individual Temperament and their ideal qualities are maintained by what Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) refers to as The Four Humours Akhlaat. These bodily fluids are Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile and Phlegm, and are produced during the liver’s digestion of the food and drink we consume. Our Humours are infused and interconnected to every organism in our body and are essential in:

Providing nutrition for the maintenance of the body’s complex structure by restoring tissues and organs.
Providing the energy required for every-day living.

Each Humour has its own qualities of heat, coldness, moistness and dryness, which exists both at a physical and metaphysical level. Just as each person has a unique Temperament, each person has a unique ratio of Humours and qualities to match their Temperament. For example, a person who is dominant sanguineous will have slightly more of the Sanguineous Humour to maintain the ideal heat and moisture associated with that Temperament.

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Whilst our Temperament is fixed, the overall qualitative state of the Humors are constantly in flux due to the influence of our environment, age, lifestyle choices, and seasonal change; particularly, the food & drinks we consume.

In a healthy person, each Humor is in correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity; mixes well with each other; and flows smoothly around the body. Pain and illness can occur when one or more of the Humors presents either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixing with others. When our Humors are balanced and flowing in harmony, we tend to think and feel better.

The Four Humors with their corresponding organ, elements, seasons, sites of formation, and resulting Temperaments:

From these basic characteristics, we can begin to understand the relationships between the Humors and our body, as well as their qualities and elements. We can also learn how closely intertwined our diet, the seasons, and our wellbeing are.

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Our digestion and how we produce the four humors

There are three aspects of the way we metabolise food that produce the humors: digestion, assimilation and residue. Digestion refers to the initial breakdown of foods in the mouth and stomach. Assimilation refers to the absorption of micronutrients in the bloodstream and cells. The evacuation of residue implies the amount of waste products after the body metabolises the food.

The humors are produced as the food and drink we consume and chew transforms into innate heat, acting as our fuel and energy to function healthily. As we chew our food, the enzymes in our saliva and grinding from our teeth help to create a type of heat that helps to breakdown the nutrients. As we then swallow, the food enters the stomach where hydraulic acid (an intense heat) further breaks down the solids into something called ‘Chyme’ – the essence of food. This fluid then travels to the liver where the finer parts are made into blood and the other valuable nutrient components are carried around the body giving us life.

Digestion means that our nourishment is changed inside our body by natural heat until it becomes a part of the body or is eliminated.

In Traditional Persian Medicine, the four main organs are:

Heart
Brain
Liver
Ovaries / Testicles

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Our Body and The Four Primary Humors

Your mouth consumes food and drink

To Stomach
Nutrients are acted upon by
digestive fluids (unusable parts go
to your large intestine and are
emitted as excrement).

To Small Intestine
Becomes chyme by mixing with
digestive juices and fluids of meal
(travels through mesenteric veins, portal vein).

To Liver

BLOOD HUMOUR ARISES
(Hot & Moist)

Superior nutrients are taken in via
bloodstream to heart and dispersed to
cells via general bloodstream

Less choice parts become

PHLEGM HUMOR
(Cold & Moist)

Normal digestion converts into mucus,
saliva, and gastric and intestinal mucus.
Abnormal digestion causes excess mucus,
classified as sweet, sour, thick, thin, etc.

The Four Primary Humours

[akh.laat]

Our digestion and how we produce the four humors

Our Body and The Four Primary Humors

Your mouth consumes food and drink

First Digestion

To Stomach
Nutrients are acted upon by
digestive fluids (unusable parts go
to your large intestine and are
emitted as excrement).

To Small Intestine
Becomes chyme by mixing with
digestive juices and fluids of meal
(travels through mesenteric veins, portal vein).

To Liver

Second Digestion

BLOOD HUMOUR ARISES
(Hot & Moist)

Superior nutrients are taken in via
bloodstream to heart and dispersed to
cells via general bloodstream

Third Digestion

Less choice parts become

PHLEGM HUMOR
(Cold & Moist)

Normal digestion converts into mucus,
saliva, and gastric and intestinal mucus.
Abnormal digestion causes excess mucus,
classified as sweet, sour, thick, thin, etc.

Remaining nutrients become

YELLOW BILE (BILIOUS) HUMOR
(Hot & Dry)

Normal bile is formed in liver, affects
blood, and acts in small intestine.

Abnormal humour causes destructive changes in bile.

Sediments of the leftover digestive nutrients become

BLACK BILE (ATRABILIOUS) HUMOR
(Cold & Dry)

Normal humour affects spleen and blood,
and mixes with phlegm humour.

Fourth Digestion

Abnormal humour is passed out as ash
or admixes with blood humour and other
humours causing ill health

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The Four Primary Humours

[akh.laat]

Our digestion and how we produce the four humors

Our Body and The Four Primary Humors

Your mouth consumes food and drink

First Digestion

To Stomach Nutrients are acted upon by digestive fluids (unusable parts go to your large intestine and are emitted as excrement).

To Small Intestine Becomes chyme by mixing with digestive juices and fluids of meal (travels through mesenteric veins, portal vein).

To Liver

Second Digestion

BLOOD HUMOUR ARISES (Hot & Moist)

Superior nutrients are taken in via bloodstream to heart and dispersed to cells via general bloodstream

Third Digestion

Less choice parts become

PHLEGM HUMOR (Cold & Moist)

Normal digestion converts into mucus, saliva, and gastric and intestinal mucus. Abnormal digestion causes excess mucus, classified as sweet, sour, thick, thin, etc.

Remaining nutrients become

YELLOW BILE (BILIOUS) HUMOR (Hot & Dry)

Normal bile is formed in liver, affects blood, and acts in small intestine.

Abnormal humour causes destructive changes in bile.

Sediments of the leftover digestive nutrients become

BLACK BILE (ATRABILIOUS) HUMOR (Cold & Dry)

Normal humour affects spleen and blood, and mixes with phlegm humour.

Fourth Digestion

Abnormal humour is passed out as ash or admixes with blood humour and other humours causing ill health

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

To Stomach
Nutrients are acted upon by
digestive fluids (unusable parts go
to your large intestine and are
emitted as excrement).

To Small Intestine
Becomes chyme by mixing with
digestive juices and fluids of meal
(travels through mesenteric veins, portal vein).

BLOOD HUMOUR ARISES
(Hot & Moist)

Superior nutrients are taken in via
bloodstream to heart and dispersed to
cells via general bloodstream

PHLEGM HUMOR
(Cold & Moist)

Normal digestion converts into mucus,
saliva, and gastric and intestinal mucus.
Abnormal digestion causes excess mucus,
classified as sweet, sour, thick, thin, etc.

YELLOW BILE (BILIOUS) HUMOR
(Hot & Dry)

Normal bile is formed in liver, affects
blood, and acts in small intestine.

BLACK BILE (ATRABILIOUS) HUMOR
(Cold & Dry)

Normal humour affects spleen and blood,
and mixes with phlegm humour.

Abnormal humour is passed out as ash
or admixes with blood humour and other
humours causing ill health