@article{1436811,
      recid = {1436811},
      author = {Hendlin, Yogi Hale, and Hope, Jonathan,},
      title = {Food and medicine : a biosemiotic perspective /},
      pages = {1 online resource :},
      abstract = {This edited volume provides a biosemiotic analysis of the  ecological relationship between food and medicine. Drawing  on the origins of semiotics in medicine, this collection  proposes innovative ways of considering aliments and  treatments. Considering the ever-evolving character of our  understanding of meaning-making in biology, and considering  the keen popular interest in issues relating to food and  medicines - fueled by an increasing body of  interdisciplinary knowledge - the contributions here  provide diverse insights and arguments into the larger  ecology of organisms' engagement with and transformation  through taking in matter. Bodies interpret molecules,  enzymes, and alkaloids they intentionally and  unintentionally come in contact with according to their  pre-existing receptors. But their receptors are also  changed by the experience. Once the body has identified a  particular substance, it responds by initiating semiotic  sequences and negotiations that fulfill vital functions for  the organism at macro-, meso-, and micro-scales. Human  abilities to distill and extract the living world into  highly refined foods and medicines, however, have created  substances far more potent than their counterparts in our  historical evolution. Many of these substances also lack  certain accompanying proteins, enzymes, and alkaloids that  otherwise aid digestion or protect against side-effects in  active extracted chemicals. Human biology has yet to catch  up with human inventions such as supernormal foods and  medicines that may flood receptors, overwhelming the body's  normal satiation mechanisms. This volume discusses how  biosemioticians can come to terms with these networks of  meaning, providing a valuable and provocative compendium  for semioticians, medical researchers and practitioners,  sociologists, cultural theorists, bioethicists and scholars  investigating the interdisciplinary questions stemming from  food and medicine.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1436811},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67115-0},
}