Associação Médica Brasileira

Human eating habits in the Amazon, especially in riparian communities, include a series of dietary restrictions (taboos) resulting, in part, from the cultural miscegenation (Native Brazilians, Africans, and Portuguese settlers) that occurred during the formation of this population.1 Among these food taboos, the most important refers to foods considered “remosos” (harmful), an adjective attributable to foods that have “reima”, i.e., that affect the blood and cause itching.2 In the popular Amazon vocabulary, “remosos” foods are heavy foods derived from pork; seafood such as crab, shrimp, scaleless fish; and cascudos, such as the tamuata; birds such as ducks; and some wild animals such as lowland pacas and capybaras. These foods should not be eaten by people at risk, for example, postoperative patients and people with infections, inflammations, or injuries, because of the risk of increasing tissue damage, creating pus, and exacerbating the inflammatory process.3,4 This recommendation, although not fully accepted by local physicians, is frequently made by some local doctors to postoperative patients. However, there are very few studies evidencing the pathophysiology of the effect of these foods on healing and inflammatory processes. Thus, the objective of this study was to promote a short review about the topic of foods considered “remoso” and to propose a theoretical hypothesis for this phenomenon based on fundamentals of immunology and of the Amazon ecosystem in order to scientifically help physicians to understand this phenomenon and treat patients from these regions.