Properties and Effects of Prepared Shouwu (Prepared He Shou Wu) as a Chinese Medicinal Herb, Whether It Can Treat Hair Loss, and Its Difference from He Shou Wu
Everyone has heard of He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum); it is a perennial twining vine of the genus Fallopia (Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae, tribe Persicarieae. But have you heard of prepared Shouwu? Prepared Shouwu is a common precious and fine Chinese medicinal herb. So what are the properties and effects of prepared Shouwu? Can it treat hair loss? And what is the difference from He Shou Wu?
Prepared Shouwu
In fact, prepared Shouwu is the processed product of He Shou Wu, with a blackish-brown or brownish-brown surface that is uneven. It is hard in texture, with a horn-like fracture surface, brownish-brown or black. It has a faint odor and a slightly sweet yet bitter and astringent taste. Store in a dry place and protect from moths. It is currently the only traditional essential medicine proven to have anti-aging effects. Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty recorded in “Compendium of Materia Medica” that prepared Shouwu can “nourish blood and benefit the liver, secure essence and benefit the kidney, strengthen tendons and bones, and darken beard and hair; it is a good tonic, neither cold nor dry, with effects superior to such medicines as Rehmannia and Asparagus Cochinchinensis”.
It grows on grassy slopes, roadsides, rocky crevices on hillsides and in shrub thickets.
It is distributed in Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places. It is mainly produced in Henan, Hubei, Guizhou, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guangxi and other places. In addition, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangxi and Hunan also produce it.
Functions of Prepared Shouwu
Tonify the liver and kidney, benefit essential blood, darken beard and hair, strengthen tendons and bones, transform turbidity and lower lipids. Used for blood deficiency with sallow complexion, dizziness and tinnitus, premature graying of beard and hair, soreness and weakness of the waist and knees, numbness of the limbs, abnormal uterine bleeding and leukorrhea, and hyperlipidemia.
Medicinal Use of Prepared Shouwu in Traditional Chinese Medicine
The production of medicinal Shouwu involves washing the dug-out He Shou Wu, slicing it, and drying it in the sun or by heat before direct medicinal use; it has the functions of moistening the intestines, relieving constipation, and resolving toxins and masses. It is mainly used for the treatment of constipation, scrofula nodules, boils and carbuncles, skin itching and other conditions.
The production of prepared Shouwu, on the other hand, involves boiling raw Shouwu together with black beans and then drying it in the sun; it is a good medicine for tonifying the liver and kidney, benefiting essential blood, and nourishing the heart and calming the spirit. It is mainly used to treat soreness and weakness of the waist and knees, dizziness and blurred vision, palpitations and insomnia, premature graying of hair and other conditions caused by insufficiency of the liver and kidney and depletion of essential blood. The hair-darkening function of He Shou Wu is exerted through its effects of tonifying the kidney, benefiting essence, and nourishing blood and calming the spirit.
Traditional Chinese medicine holds that the kidney governs the bones and stores essence, and its luster is manifested externally. The process of human hair growth and loss is manifested in the process of the rise and decline of kidney qi. Those with strong kidney qi have black, glossy and thick hair, while those with deficient kidney qi have premature graying, lusterless hair or even hair loss. Therefore, most cases of premature graying of hair are related to kidney deficiency and the kidney's failure to nourish blood and store essence. Thus, in treating premature graying of hair, traditional Chinese medicine commonly uses the method of tonifying the kidney, and Shouwu is merely a medicine for tonifying the kidney, benefiting essence and nourishing blood. When treating premature graying of hair, it is used in combination with other kidney-tonifying medicines, such as Eclipta prostrata, Ligustrum lucidum, Alpinia oxyphylla, Eucommia ulmoides, black sesame, Ziziphus jujuba seed, prepared Rehmannia and others, and can often achieve certain therapeutic effects. Using He Shou Wu alone to treat white hair is not very ideal in effect.
Edible Value
Prepared Shouwu is a blood-tonifying medicine, mainly indicated for premature graying of beard and hair caused by yin deficiency of the liver and kidney; it is not very useful for hair loss.
10 grams of He Shou Wu + 30 grams of black beans plus a little rice, cooked into porridge, used for insufficiency of the liver and kidney, dizziness and tinnitus.
Shouwu powder mixed with water, used for hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, and senile constipation.
Shouwu and Lily Porridge
Ingredients: 30 grams of prepared Shouwu, 20 grams of lily, 100 grams of japonica rice, 5 jujubes, and an appropriate amount of rock sugar.
Method: Decoct prepared Shouwu in water to make a soup, remove the residue, add the washed lily, japonica rice and jujubes and cook into a thin porridge, then mix in rock sugar and consume. One dose per day, taken in 2 divided servings.
Effects: Nourishes kidney yin. Suitable for osteoporosis of the kidney-yin deficiency type, with symptoms such as dizziness and tinnitus, soreness and pain of the waist and legs, hunched back, five-center heat, insomnia and night sweats, dry mouth and throat, heel pain, seminal emission in men, irregular menstruation or amenorrhea in women, and possible spontaneous fractures, etc.
He Shou Wu Stewed Beef
Ingredients: 15 grams of prepared Shouwu, 75 grams each of beef and black beans, some longan aril and red dates.
Method: Soak the black beans in water overnight, then cook the black beans in a little water for a while, discard the water, then add 8 cups of clear water, place the beef cut into small pieces and a few slices of ginger into the pot and cook together; when the water boils, skim off the fat and foam, and after simmering a little while, add He Shou Wu, longan aril and red dates, etc. Cook for more than 1 hour more, and it is ready to eat.
Effects: Benefits essence, tonifies the liver and kidney, strengthens tendons and bones, and tonifies deficiency and damage; suitable for weak stomach and spleen deficiency, waist and knee weakness, etc.