Discussion on the phlegm diseases theory in traditional Chinese medicine

The article points that phlegm diseases should not only be summarized into pathological products resulting from disturbance of water metabolism in the body,but be expressed as pathological products resulting from the essence of the water and food can not become Qi,blood and body fluids.The concept on the difference of visible phlegm and invisible phlegm is wrong.Phlegm is pathological links of diseases,should not be classified as a secondary pathogen.In the textbook of Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine,phlegm and fluid retention should be discussed separately; their concepts,pathogens and pathogenic characteristics should not be discussed together.But we think the discussion of visible phlegm and invisible phlegm should be substituted as discussion of the difference between phlegm and phlegm diseases. Key words: Phlegm;  Body fluids;  Secondary pathogen