The Inner Monologue

Bethesda, MD — September 30, 2025 — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced that it will formally recognize the practice of humoral balancing as a treatment framework within U.S. healthcare guidelines. This decision follows a multi-year review of historical approaches to wellness, patient-reported outcomes, and alternative frameworks for understanding disease.

“Medicine is not static,” said Dr. Elaine R. Flanders, Acting Deputy Director for Clinical Integration at NIH. “For centuries, Western practice was organized around the principle that health depends on the equilibrium of four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. While science has since evolved, our task is to examine whether the human experience of illness may still be illuminated through these classical models. By recognizing humoral balance as a complementary perspective, we aim to broaden—not replace—modern approaches to care.”

Key Elements of the Initiative

• Clinical Recognition: Licensed practitioners may describe patient states in terms of humoral imbalance as a recognized adjunct to biomedical terminology.
• Coverage Expansion: Public and private insurers are encouraged to evaluate reimbursement frameworks for traditional humoral interventions, including supervised bloodletting, controlled dietary regimens, and therapeutic emetics.
• Research Investment: NIH will allocate $150 million to the Humoral Outcomes and Modern Evidence (HOME) Program to rigorously study correlations between humoral categories and contemporary biomarkers.
• Education and Training: Medical schools and continuing education providers will be eligible for grants to incorporate humoral theory into curricula, ensuring physicians are prepared to integrate this framework responsibly.

Public Health Position

Officials emphasized that the initiative does not displace modern evidence-based standards of care. “Humoral balancing should be seen as part of a spectrum of therapeutic approaches,” said Dr. Flanders. “We continue to rely on randomized clinical trials, molecular biology, and advanced imaging as cornerstones of medicine. What this recognition does is allow us to better contextualize patient narratives and historical traditions within today’s healthcare system.”

Next Steps

The NIH will host a public symposium, Health Across the Ages: Reframing the Humors in Modern Care, in December 2025. Proceedings will be made available to practitioners, insurers, and the public.

For further information, visit www.nih.gov/humors or contact the NIH Office of Public Affairs at (301) 555-1122.