title: Bloating: Avicenna's Perspective and Modern Medicine.
abstract: Bloating and abdominal distention are common complaints present in quite a number of organic and functional diseases. An important subject in traditional Persian medicine is digestive disorders, particularly bloating and its etiology. This is a literature review study conducted on The Canon in Medicine written by Avicenna and using the keywords: bloating, gas. In this article, causes for bloating, according to Avicenna, include diet causes, inappropriate lifestyle, gastrointestinal, and miscellaneous reasons. These were compared with causes suggested in modern medicine. Avicenna classifies causes based on the place of origin into upper part of the abdomen (stomach) and intestinal part of the abdomen. Also, 38 medicinal plants used as remedies were listed. Modern scientific data support all bloating causes that have been mentioned in the canon. Obviously, some causes such as uterine disorders and posterior nasal discharge need to be studied further.
authors.affiliation: Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran naseri@shahed.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Iranian Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Babaeian
authors.affiliation: Department of History of Medicine, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghaffari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamalinejad
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Isfahan University Medical, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Awat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Feizi
authors.affiliation: Traditional Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazaheri
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Medicine, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Roshanak
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mokaberinejad
authors.affiliation: Integrative Functional Gastroenterology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Peyman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Adibi
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D005414:Flatulence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D013272:Stomach Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Avicenna; bloating; traditional Persian medicine