Sasang constitutional medicine

Four bodies, four tables.

Korean medicine has spent four centuries arguing that people do not share one ideal diet. It sorts us into four constitutions — and what settles one stomach can unsettle another. This is that system, written down by someone who uses it in clinic.

Written and reviewed by Jason Lee, K.M.D. — Licensed Doctor of Korean Medicine (Republic of Korea)

The four constitutions

Taeyangin

태양인

Lung-dominant · Metal

Soyangin

소양인

Spleen-dominant · Fire

Taeeumin

태음인

Liver-dominant · Wood

Soeumin

소음인

Kidney-dominant · Water

Sasang medicine does not use the standard five-phase assignment. Lee Je-ma placed the heart at the centre as Earth, which moves the spleen to Fire — so these four are metal, fire, wood and water. If you have read elsewhere that the spleen is Earth, that was a different system.