The Benefits and Effects of Drinking Dandelion Tea, Its Contraindications, and How to Pair It
Dandelion is also known as Huanghua Diding, Popodding, Huahualang, and other names. It is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae family. It has a capitulum inflorescence, and its seeds bear a fluffy ball formed by white pappus. After the flowers bloom, the seeds drift with the wind to new places to breed new life. So what are the benefits and effects of dandelion? What are the contraindications of drinking dandelion tea? Who should not drink it? How do you brew dandelion tea?
I. The Benefits and Effects of Dandelion
1. Clearing heat and detoxifying
Dandelion is a fine medicine for clearing heat, detoxifying, reducing swelling, and dispersing nodules. It is suitable for use in various heat-toxin diseases, among which its effect of clearing liver heat is very good. It is also very effective for treating severe redness and swelling pain caused by liver heat, as well as various diseases after wound infection or suppuration.
2. Removing damp-heat
The “Compendium of Materia Medica” says: “Dandelion resolves food toxins, disperses stagnant qi, transforms heat toxins, and reduces malignant swellings and scrofula.” Dandelion can purge fire and remove dampness, can improve problems such as nausea and yellow tongue coating caused by damp-heat, and also has a therapeutic effect on acne caused by damp-heat.
3. Treating mouth ulcers
Chewing dried dandelion for 5-10 minutes, swallowing part of it and keeping part of it in the teeth and cheeks, produces the effect of both internal administration and external application. As a result, recurrent mouth ulcers heal noticeably faster, and the pain during the course of the ulcers is reduced.
4. Reducing abscesses and dispersing nodules
Dandelion has effects such as clearing fire and reducing inflammation. For women, regularly eating some dandelion can effectively relieve stagnant liver qi and achieve the effect of preventing and treating breast diseases.
The “Newly Revised Materia Medica” says: “It mainly treats breast abscess and swelling in women.” The “Essentials of Materia Medica” says: “It specifically treats abscess swelling and furuncle toxin, and is also an excellent product for treating strangury.” If the body has persistent high fever or swollen sores and toxins, one can take more dandelion water.
5. Antibacterial
Certain substances contained in dandelion leaves have a certain inhibitory effect on Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus. Dandelion decoction for washing can treat athlete's foot. Athlete's foot is a skin disease caused by fungal infection, and external treatment with Chinese medicine mainly uses drugs that clear heat, drain dampness, detoxify, and kill insects. The combination of dandelion and Patrinia scabiosaefolia can produce relatively strong effects of sterilizing and reducing swelling, astringing, and stopping itching.
6. Protecting the stomach and aiding digestion
Dandelion is an excellent product for treating stomach pain. It can be applied to stomach duct pain, fullness and distention, vomiting, and acid regurgitation caused by food stagnation transforming into heat, damp-heat in the spleen and stomach, liver depression transforming into fire, and intense stomach fire. The “Medical Forest Compendium” records that dandelion “tonifies the spleen and harmonizes the stomach, and purges fire.”
7.
Promoting lactation
Research suggests that dandelion can “promote milk flow,” possibly related to regulating nerves, dilating blood vessels, dredging meridians, and promoting milk secretion. In addition, research has also found that dandelion has a better effect on insufficient lactation due to liver qi stagnation (those with breast distention, pain, and hardness), which is related to its functions of clearing heat and soothing the liver, reducing swelling, and dispersing nodules.
8. Protecting the liver and promoting urination
Foreign research shows that dandelion has the effect of protecting the liver and promoting urination. Dandelion is comparable to milk thistle in function, and both are most commonly used in patients who need to remove liver toxins. Dandelion root in particular is the most important natural nutritional product in many cases of preventing hepatitis C. Dandelion is also called “bed-wetting grass,” which shows its diuretic effect. When the body feels bloated or edematous, using dandelion to promote urination will not cause potassium in the body to be excreted along with water.
9. Preventing and treating tumors
Dandelion root has a clear anti-tumor effect, because the triterpene compounds it is mainly rich in can kill cancer cells. Dandelion polysaccharide and shiitake polysaccharide have similar anti-tumor mechanisms, and it is an immune enhancer.
10.
Improving urethritis
Summer is a period of high incidence of urethritis and urinary tract infections. Brewing a cup of dandelion water can improve them very well. Dandelion contains broad-spectrum antibacterial and anti-inflammatory ingredients, is effective against various types of inflammation, and also has a good diuretic effect. It can prevent and improve urethritis, and has a very good effect on short, stabbing urination caused by prostatitis!
II. What are the contraindications of drinking dandelion tea? Who should not drink it?
1. People with yin-cold syndrome should not drink it
The bodies of patients with yin-cold do not show fever. The course of disease is long and the constitution is poor. At this time, if cold-natured dandelion is used for treatment, the condition will not improve and side effects may instead appear. The body constitution will become worse and appetite will also decline.
2. Do not drink it in excess
Although dandelion has many health benefits, it should not be drunk in excess. Generally, a daily intake of 3-5g is sufficient.
3. Do not drink cold tea
In the hot summer, everyone likes to drink cold things, but dandelion tea should be drunk warm. Once it has cooled, it is best not to drink it again, otherwise it may cause diarrhea and other discomfort.
4. People with spleen and stomach deficiency-cold should not drink it alone
For people with spleen and stomach deficiency-cold, if they still want the health benefits of dandelion, then they should not drink dandelion alone. They can add mild ingredients to neutralize it before drinking, such as adding a little rose, red date, or ginger slice.
III. How do you brew dandelion tea?
1. Lowering blood sugar: Pair dandelion with corn silk, rose, and fragrant solomonseal rhizome to make dandelion corn silk tea!
Formula: corn silk 1g, dandelion 1g, fragrant solomonseal rhizome 0.5g, rose 0.3g
This formula takes the blood-sugar-lowering effects of dandelion and corn silk. In Chinese medicine, corn silk is also called “dragon whisker.” It is neutral in nature and has the effects of promoting urination, reducing swelling, clearing the liver, and benefiting the gallbladder. According to the “Zhejiang Journal of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine,” repeatedly brewing corn silk with boiling water and drinking it as tea is effective in treating diabetes. The active ingredient in dandelion, dandelion polysaccharide, also has a good blood-sugar-lowering effect. Moreover, dandelion has an anti-inflammatory effect. Paired with corn silk and drunk as tea, it helps prevent diabetic complications. Adding fragrant solomonseal rhizome has the effect of nourishing yin and promoting fluid production, and can improve thirst. Rose is warm in nature and harmonizes the stomach, and can neutralize the tea.
2. Detoxifying and antioxidant: Pair dandelion with green tea and osmanthus to make dandelion osmanthus tea
Formula: dandelion leaf 2.0g, green tea Longjing 0.8g, osmanthus 0.2g
Dandelion clears heat and detoxifies, and has a broad-spectrum antibacterial effect. Regular drinking helps eliminate toxins throughout the body and can very well improve skin conditions such as dermatitis or eczema. It also has a very good improving effect on acne caused by internal heat, even acne accompanied by redness and swelling! Green tea is a fine medicine for clearing fire. It can clear the heart and liver, cool the liver and gallbladder, and has an antioxidant effect. It removes impurities from the skin, lightens melanin in the skin, and makes the skin white and tender. Osmanthus has the effects of warming the lungs and transforming phlegm, clearing heat and disinfecting, and moistening the intestines to relieve constipation. It is effective for dry and cracked skin and can also whiten the skin.