Gastrology: the use of culinary terms in medicine.

In the era of the SI unit everything in medicine is supposed to be accurately measured and standardised. Nevertheless, medicine remains essentially a descriptive science, particularly where the communication of appearance is concerned : whether abnormal physical signs, techniques of surgery, radiological shadows, or pathological abnormalities of organs or cells. The frequency with which allusions are made in medical writing to food and drink is impressive. We have culled 99 items of food and distilled 22 beverage-related items from various publications, and present an analysis of this harvest.