Epub ahead of print 1 Journal of Integrative Medicine Journal Homepage: www.jcimjournal.com/jim www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/20954964 Available also online at www.sciencedirect.com. Copyright © 2014, Journal of Integrative Medicine Editorial ofice. E-edition published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd. All rights reserved. Teb (medicine) as described by Avicenna on the opening pages of the al-Qānūn fī al-Tibb (The Cannon of Medicine) was “a science by which one learns the conditions of the human body in health and in the nonexistence of health to keep health or to bring it back”. According to Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine and other traditional Persian medicine (TPM) resources, the observance of the six essential qualities provides guidance to any medical intervention. These qualities include air, food and drink, physical activity and rest, sleep and wake, retention and release (the bodily functions of absorption and evacuation) as well as mood and mental states. According to Avicenna’s theory, there are different causes for diseases and ill health, and a single complaint may be linked to multiple combinations of excesses or deiciencies in these essential qualities. For example, the causes for developing constipation include mental stress, low food intake, dryness of food, low luid intake, excessive urination, excessive sweating because of heavy exercise or hot weather (tissue dehydration), using astringent herbal medicines as well as intestinal sensory loss [1,2] . Constipation, Ea’teghal-e-batn or hassr-e-batn in TPM, is a condition deined by a patient’s inability to have a normal bowel movement, including infrequent defecation, painful defecation, or both. To maintain a healthy bowel and normal fecal evacuation, Avicenna recommends a nutrient-dense diet, including bread and lamb, as well as minimizing consumption of hot spicy food. These issues are in accordance with indings in the conventional medicine, which recommends nutrient-dense food from the major food groups (like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) along with appropriate exercise. Living in a peaceful environment with mental relaxation may alleviate symptoms of constipation in children. According to Avicenna, children have an excess of warmth and moisture and thus they required different foods than adults for their growth and development. However, in children, the combination of high nutritional demands and immature gut puts them at the risk of developing gastrointestinal ailments such as dyspepsia and constipation. Adhering to TPM’s nutritional scheme might prevent dyspepsia and constipation in children [2] . Avicenna states that observance of these preventive measures should be the first line of treatment. These preventative measures require an identification of the ● Letter to the Editor Functional constipation in children: non-pharmacological approach Majid Nimrouzi 1,2 , Mohammad M. Zarshenas 1,3 1. Essence of Parsiyan Wisdom Institute, Research Center for Traditional Medicine and History of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 2. Research Institute for Islamic and Complementary Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3. Department of Phytopharmaceuticals (Traditional Pharmacy), School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran KEYWORDS: pediatrics; constipation; medicine, traditional http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2095-4964(15)60152-2 Nimrouzi M, Zarshenas MM. Functional constipation in children: non-pharmacological approach. J Integr Med. 2014 December; Epub ahead of print. Received September 26, 2014; accepted October 21, 2014. Correspondence: Mohammad M. Zarshenas; E-mail: zarm@sums.ac.ir