Hell J Nucl Med
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Editorial
The timeless influence of Hippocratic ideals on diet, salicytates and personalized medicine.
At a time when superstition and deities were thought to be responsible for health and disease, Hippocrates of Kos emerged as a rational thinker assigning disease to natural causes. His insights, which principally arose from what may be considered almost compulsive examination and comparison, formed the basis of Hippocratic Medicine. There are still unresolved questions regarding the authenticity of the approximately 70 works shaping the Hippocratic Corpus. ⋯ Importantly, the Hippocratic Oath remains a masterpiece of medical morals and ethics, analogous forms of which are still used today. Indeed, the Hippocratic Corpus teaches timeless concepts which do not only relate to medical thought and methodology but also to the more gentle aspects of the art. In this essay Hippocratic observations are considered in relation to three important matters preoccupying modern medicine: a) nutrition, b) drug development and c) personalized medicine.