Absorptiva

Absorptiva is a historical term in pharmacology that referred to a class of remedies whose proposed action was to absorb liquids, toxins, or discharges from body tissues or mucous surfaces. The concept arose from humoral medicine, in which treatments were chosen for their supposed ability to draw out excess fluids or secretions and restore balance.

In traditional practice, absorptiva encompassed a variety of substances believed to have drying or adsorbing properties. Common examples included absorbent earths and powders such as kaolin, chalk, talc, starch, and powdered charcoal. Some preparations combined these materials with tannins or pectins, which were thought to help bind liquids within the gastrointestinal tract or at sites of inflammation. The use of absorptiva extended to conditions featuring copious secretions, exudates, or moist lesions, including diarrhea, wounds, and inflammatory discharges.

In modern medicine, the term absorptiva is largely obsolete. Contemporary classification tends to group similar actions under adsorbents or astringents, and the rationale has shifted away from humoral theory toward specific mechanisms of action. Substances used today to achieve similar effects include activated charcoal and kaolin as adsorbents, as well as dietary fibers and other locally acting drying agents. The concept remains of historical interest in the study of the development of pharmacological categories and how drug classifications evolved.

Etymology: absorptivus, from Latin, meaning capable of absorbing. See also adsorbents, astringents, historical pharmacopoeias.