What are the benefits and contraindications of drinking peach blossom tea from the Rosaceae family, and can you drink it every day?

Every year from March to June is the season when peach blossoms are in full bloom. In Chinese culture, peach blossoms are mostly associated with love and romantic connections. The ancients once used “peach blossoms mirroring a fair face in red” to praise a young woman's delicate and lovely appearance. Besides their high ornamental value, peach blossoms also have good medicinal value. So what are the benefits, effects and contraindications of peach blossoms? What are the benefits of steeping them in water?

I. Benefits, effects and contraindications of peach blossoms

1. Benefits and effects of peach blossoms

(1) Peach blossoms have the effect of promoting blood circulation and resolving stasis: Traditional Chinese medicine holds that peach blossoms are sweet and pungent in flavor, slightly warm in nature, and enter the heart, lung and large intestine meridians. Many ancient Chinese medical texts record that peach blossoms have the effects of promoting blood circulation, resolving stasis, moistening dryness and relaxing the bowels. They generally have a certain auxiliary effect on treating traumatic injuries, blood stasis with swelling and pain, dysmenorrhea, and irregular menstruation.

(2) Peach blossoms have a diuretic and laxative effect: Peach blossoms are sweet and neutral in nature and flavor. Used as medicine, they can eliminate water retention and abdominal distension, and have diuretic and purgative effects to relieve constipation.

(3) Peach blossoms have a beauty-enhancing and skin-nourishing effect: Modern medicine holds that peach blossoms are rich in kaempferol, vitamins, carotene, and nutrients needed by the human body such as potassium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. Among these, kaempferol has a relatively good beauty and skin-care effect.

2. Usage and dosage of peach blossoms

(1) External application to treat skin diseases: ① For scalp ringworm, dry peach blossoms in the shade, add mulberries, pound them together, mix evenly with lard, and apply externally; ② For sores on the back, collect peach blossoms with dew in the morning, add vinegar, pound and extract the juice, and apply it to the affected area on the back; ③ For ulcers on the feet, pound peach blossoms, add salt and vinegar, and apply to the affected area.

(2) For athlete's foot: Dry peach blossoms in the shade and pound them; take 3g each time with clear rice wine.

(3) For difficult bowel movements: Take 9g of peach blossoms and decoct in water.

(4) For malaria: Dry peach blossoms in the sun and pound them; take 9g each time with clear rice wine.

(5) For heart and abdominal pain: After drying peach blossoms in the sun, take 9g and decoct in water.

(6) For dry stool blocking the intestines with distending pain and no passage: One liang of hairy peach blossoms and three liang of flour; mix into dough and make wontons; eat on an empty stomach.

Note: Although peach blossoms have good benefits, they must still be used under a doctor's guidance!

3. Dietary contraindications for peach blossoms

(1) Pregnant women and those with excessive menstrual flow are forbidden to take them.

(2) Although peach blossoms are good, they should not be taken for a long time. According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, peach blossoms “if taken for a long time will consume yin blood and damage original qi”; Yaoxing Qieyong says “mistaken consumption causes diarrhea.” Therefore, peach blossoms cannot be taken frequently.

II. What are the benefits of steeping peach blossoms in water? Can you drink it every day?

The usual way to consume peach blossoms is to steep them in water. Besides brewing dried peach blossoms, fresh peach blossoms can also be brewed and consumed. Peach blossom tea has a very long history of use in China and is recorded in many famous works of traditional Chinese medicine. Frequently steeping peach blossoms in water can have a beauty-enhancing and skin-nourishing effect and make the complexion better. The specific benefits and effects are as follows:

First: Beauty enhancement, skin nourishment, and prevention of melanin

Peach blossoms contain a large amount of kaempferol, which can dilate blood vessels and has a moisturizing effect on the skin. It can also effectively improve blood circulation and dredge the meridians, thus promoting the faster excretion of lipofuscin, which causes human aging, thereby preventing and eliminating freckles, melasma and age spots, etc. After pounding fresh peach blossoms, take the juice and apply it evenly to the face, or grind shade-dried peach blossoms into powder, add an appropriate amount of honey to blend, and apply to the face.

Second: Regulating menstrual blood

Peach blossoms are sweet and pungent in flavor and slightly warm in nature, and have the effects of promoting water metabolism, promoting blood circulation and relieving constipation. It is understood that putting 5 grams each of peach blossoms and safflower into a teacup, pouring in an appropriate amount of boiling water, and drinking it after the temperature is suitable, once a day for 3 consecutive days, can promote blood circulation and resolve blood stasis.

Third: Regulating emotions and detoxifying

Peach blossoms have the effect of dissipating stasis and resolving masses. They can expel blood stasis and heart fire from the body through bowel movements, thereby achieving the purpose of regulating emotions.

Fourth: Diuresis and relieving constipation

Peach blossoms are sweet and neutral in nature and flavor, and have a purgative effect to relieve constipation. Steeping them in water helps promote bowel movements.

Note: Peach blossom tea absolutely must not be taken for a long time, nor should it be drunk every day. It is recommended to drink it twice a week, with 6-7 peach blossoms each time. Long-term consumption not only has no beauty-enhancing or skin-nourishing effect, but instead damages our original qi, causes endocrine disorders, and makes the complexion look worse and worse and increasingly dull.

III. Can steeping peach blossoms in water help with weight loss?

Although peach blossoms have a laxative effect, experts tell us that although peach blossoms act as a purgative, they cannot achieve the purpose of weight loss, because what the body expels after taking peach blossoms is water, not fat. On the contrary, long-term drinking can cause gastrointestinal discomfort. Therefore, do not think that drinking peach blossom tea can help with weight loss. It is still best to lose weight using scientific methods.

Conclusion: That is all for the introduction to the benefits and effects of peach blossoms. Peach blossoms not only have high ornamental value but also certain medicinal value. However, we must also view their medicinal effects correctly and must not abuse them at will. Also, do not drink peach blossom tea frequently; an appropriate amount is enough.