How much is a jin of leeches? Learn about their main uses
The leech is the common name for the medicinal leech (Hirudo). The earliest record of leeches in China appears in the "Shennong Bencao Jing". Leeches have high medicinal value. With environmental degradation and predatory hunting by humans, wild leeches have become very scarce, and their price has risen accordingly. Here let us take a look at the price and uses of leeches.
1. The price of leeches
The price of leeches is mainly closely related to their variety and quality. At present, the market price of leeches is generally around nine hundred and forty yuan per kilogram, and there are also relatively cheaper ones, mainly depending on the place of origin and quality of the leeches. In different regions, the market price of leeches is also affected to varying degrees. For example, salt-water leeches are generally around six hundred and twenty yuan per kilogram, and the price of alum-water leeches is generally also six hundred and twenty yuan per kilogram, but clean-water leeches are relatively more expensive, generally no less than nine hundred yuan per kilogram. In some regions, the average price of leeches is six hundred yuan per kilogram, while in other regions they can sell for a high price of more than one thousand yuan.
There are roughly four to five hundred species of leeches in the world. They mostly live in fresh water, a few live in salt water, and some are terrestrial and amphibious. Among them are species that live by sucking blood or body fluids, and also carnivorous species that prey on small animals. The leeches we usually see in rice paddies are generally the Japanese medical leech, which mainly sucks the blood of humans and livestock, and in nature mainly feeds on the blood of fish and other animals.
2. The uses of leeches
Leeches have high medical value and are a traditional Chinese specialty medicinal aquatic animal. The "Bencao Huiyan" records that the medicinal leech is “a medicine for expelling bad blood and stagnant blood.” The medical sage Zhang Zhongjing used it to eliminate pathogenic factors and support healthy qi, using leeches to treat “stagnant blood” and “water retention” conditions, demonstrating its unique curative effect. Medicinal leeches are generally processed from dried products and then used in traditional Chinese medicine, and have effects such as treating stroke, high blood pressure, clearing stasis, amenorrhea, and traumatic injuries. In recent years, it has been newly discovered that leech preparations have special effects in preventing and treating cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and in anti-cancer applications. China was the first to apply medical leeches to treat stagnant blood after replantation of severed fingers, with several successful cases, receiving widespread praise both domestically and abroad.
As the value of medicinal leeches continues to be discovered, demand has gradually risen, and many regions have already begun artificial breeding of medicinal leeches. As early as 1984, the American leech expert Dr. Sawyer founded the world's first leech farm and biochemical pharmaceutical company in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. The hirudin and hyaluronidase produced by this company have been sold to countries in Europe and America as well as Japan, and it has also sold tens of thousands of live medical leeches. Today, France and Germany have transferred the gene for synthetic hirudin into yeast and E. coli, and use genetic engineering methods to produce inexpensive hirudin.
Although leeches do not look like much, their value is actually quite high. However, because the cost of breeding leeches is very high and output is also relatively high, the leeches on the market are actually in oversupply, and the price is also on a downward trend. Friends who want to breed leeches must investigate clearly before entering the industry.