The five flavors, the five organs and the five elements

The taste of food is an important aspect of eating. The taste of food is categorized into five flavors: sweet, bitter, sour, spicy and salty. Eating certain flavors can help the function of the five organs to balance your health, as well as treat disease and recover from illness.

Sweet flavor can tonify the body.
Bitter flavor can clear heat.
Sour flavor can calm the body.
Spicy flavor can expel wind and cold from the body.
Salty flavor can help the body to dissolve stagnation.

Relationship between the five flavors and the five organs:
The five elements theory establishes the relationships between the five flavors and the five organs. The five important organs are: heart, liver, lung, kidney and spleen. Each organ is paired with its own corresponding flavor which can help the organ to function when in disorder.

Spleen – Sweet
Heart – Bitter
Liver – Sour
Lung – Spicy
Kidney – Salty

This means when you eat foods, certain flavors act on one organ more than others. Research states that that after eating, sour flavored foods goes to the liver first, bitter flavor goes to the heart first, sweet flavor go to the spleen first, spicy flavor goes to the lung first, and salty flavor goes to the kidney first. The organs try to balance themselves through your diet. When an organ is sick, the body can tell you what organ may be impaired through cravings for a particular taste.