Is Chinese herbal medicine Suoyang the same as Roucongrong? Benefits, effects, and how to eat and select it

Suoyang is a perennial succulent parasitic herb of the order Myrtales, family Cynomoriaceae, distributed in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and other places, growing in desert steppe, steppe desert and desert zones, generally harvested in spring, and its dried succulent stem can be used as medicine. So, what are the benefits and effects of Suoyang? Is it Roucongrong? How do you eat or select it?

I. What are the benefits and effects of Suoyang?

1. Tonifies kidney yang: Suoyang is warm in nature and can warm yang and tonify the kidney, suitable for nourishing kidney yang deficiency; used in combination with dodder seed and Roucongrong, it can treat impotence and premature ejaculation and female infertility caused by insufficient kidney yang.

2. Benefits essence and blood: Suoyang combined with tortoise shell, prepared rehmannia, achyranthes and others can tonify the kidney and replenish essence, strengthen sinews and bones, and treat waist and knee weakness and powerless sinews and bones caused by kidney deficiency and essence depletion.

3. Moistens the intestines and moves the bowels: Suoyang has the effects of scavenging free radicals, resisting hypoxia and inhibiting platelet aggregation, promotes gastrointestinal peristalsis, and can treat dry-intestine constipation.

4. Suoyang can also help regulate leukorrhea, treat uterine prolapse in women, treat gastric ulcers and so on, and has a certain effect on paralysis and on improving weakened sexual function.

II. What are the contraindications for taking Suoyang?

Suoyang is a Chinese herbal medicine and belongs to the yang-tonifying drugs under the subcategory of deficiency-tonifying drugs. If there are no specific symptoms of yang deficiency or a diagnosis from a qualified Chinese medicine practitioner, try not to take it on your own; it is forbidden for those who easily have erections but cannot sustain them, those with spleen deficiency and diarrhea, and those with excess-heat constipation; it should also not be taken long term, otherwise it will damage kidney yin.

III. Is Suoyang the same as Roucongrong?

Suoyang is not Roucongrong.

Suoyang is the dried succulent stem of the plant Suoyang of the family Cynomoriaceae, generally parasitic on Nitraria plants of the genus Nitraria in the family Zygophyllaceae, while Roucongrong is the succulent stem of the plant Roucongrong or Roucong or Cistanche deserticola of the family Orobanchaceae, mainly parasitic on Haloxylon plants of the family Chenopodiaceae; the stem of Suoyang is reddish brown or brownish, while the stem of Roucongrong is yellow; Suoyang has a stronger tonifying effect and a greater ability to benefit essence, easily causes internal heat when eaten in large amounts, and cannot be taken long term, while Roucongrong is more nourishing and mild, does not damage yin, does not cause internal heat when eaten in large amounts, and can be taken long term.

IV. How do you eat Suoyang?

Fresh Suoyang can be eaten raw directly or cooked into porridge; eating it raw means peeling and slicing the Suoyang and eating it directly, and it tastes sweet yet astringent; when cooked into porridge it can be made into Suoyang mutton porridge, Suoyang kidney-tonifying porridge and so on; dried Suoyang can be decocted in water, used in soup, steeped in water and infused in liquor; decoction is generally done by boiling it together with other Chinese herbs and taking it, or boiling it alone and then removing the dregs, adding brown sugar, mixing evenly and drinking; for soup it can be made into Suoyang mutton soup, Suoyang stewed chicken soup, Suoyang strength-building soup and so on, and it can also be lightly steamed in a steamer and eaten sliced.

V. How do you select Suoyang?

True dried Suoyang is shaped like a flat cylinder or slightly thinner at one end, with a surface color from reddish brown to dark brown, with thick longitudinal grooves or irregular depressions on the surface, sometimes showing triangular scales, hard in texture and not easily broken, with a slightly granular fracture surface; it smells faintly fragrant and tastes slightly bitter and astringent; those that are plump, red in color, solid, powdery in fracture and without visible veins are considered the best.