This is often attributed to Hippocrates but does not appear in the Hippocratic corpus. See Diana Cardenas, "Let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation", e-SPEN: The European e-Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism XXX:6 (October 2013). Cardenas here in turn cites Jaques Jouanna.
• As Cardenas self quotes from the Hippocratic corpus (On Food, s:el:Περί_τροφής#pXIX.), the source of the misquotation might be: “in food medicine for the best, in food medicine for the bad, bad and good related to something” («ἐν τροφῇ φαρμακείη ἄριστον, ἐν τροφῇ φαρμακείη φλαῦρον, φλαῦρον καὶ ἄριστον πρός τι»).

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

— Hippocrates

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." in the context of "This is often attributed to Hippocrates but does not appear in the Hippocratic corpus. See Diana Cardenas, "Let not thy food be confused with thy medicine: The Hippocratic misquotation", e-SPEN: The European e-Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism XXX:6 (October 2013). Cardenas here in turn cites Jaques Jouanna.
• As Cardenas self quotes from the Hippocratic corpus (On Food, s:el:Περί_τροφής#pXIX.), the source of the misquotation might be: “in food medicine for the best, in food medicine for the bad, bad and good related to something” («ἐν τροφῇ φαρμακείη ἄριστον, ἐν τροφῇ φαρμακείη φλαῦρον, φλαῦρον καὶ ἄριστον πρός τι»)." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Hippocrates" (Disputed) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Hippocrates

About Hippocrates

Hippocrates (Ἱπποκράτης) of Kos (c. 460 BC - 377 BC) was an ancient Greek physician who is referred to as the "father of medicine".