Is longan a hot or cooling food? Its nature explained clearly in one go

Longan, also known as guiyuan, yizhi and other names, is the fruit of the longan, an evergreen tree of the genus Dimocarpus in the soapberry family. Its nutritional value is very high, containing rich vitamins, fruit acids, minerals and other nutrients. It not only supplements the nutrients the human body needs, but also promotes health and helps digestion. Let us take a look below at whether longan is a hot or cooling food!

Is longan a hot or cooling food?

Longan is a warm fruit, but leans toward hot. If you have spleen deficiency along with severe anemia and a poor complexion, it is recommended to eat more longan. However, people with a hot body constitution should not eat large amounts; after eating it, people with a hot body constitution easily develop constipation or symptoms such as a dry mouth and dry tongue. In addition, people with phlegm-dampness in the body and heat diseases such as colds, fever, and cough with phlegm should not eat it, and pregnant women especially must not eat it. This is because pregnant women usually have yin deficiency and are prone to internal heat, showing symptoms such as dry stool, yellow urine, and dry mouth. At this time, eating longan not only fails to provide a tonifying effect, but instead increases internal heat, which may trigger symptoms of threatened miscarriage such as spotting, abdominal pain, and abdominal bloating.

Is longan acidic or alkaline?

Longan is an acidic fruit. The acidity or alkalinity of food is classified according to the characteristics of the food. In fact, the standard in nutrition for dividing foods into acidic and alkaline is not based on the taste of the food, but on the acidity or alkalinity of the final metabolic products after the food is decomposed in the human body. Anything whose final metabolic product after decomposition in the body is acidic is called an acidic food, and the opposite is an alkaline food. Nutritionists believe that fish, meat, poultry, eggs, rice, flour, fats, and sugars are all acidic foods, while vegetables, fruits, soy products, and milk are all alkaline foods.

Which groups of people cannot eat longan?

1. Longan is a damp-heat food, and eating too much can easily cause qi stagnation, so it should not be eaten when there are symptoms of internal heat and inflammation.

2. People with phlegm-fire internally or yin deficiency with hyperactive fire, as well as those with dampness stagnation and retained fluids, should avoid eating it.

3. It should be avoided when there is a thick greasy tongue coating, qi blockage and fullness, slippery intestines and diarrhea, wind-cold cold, or indigestion.

4. Dried longan contains relatively high natural sugar, so people with diabetes should avoid eating it.

5. People suffering from acne, external carbuncles and boils, pelvic inflammatory disease in women, urethritis, or heavy menstruation should avoid eating it.

6. Longan is hot in nature and adds fire, so children and adolescents should also eat less of it.

7. After pregnancy, most women have relatively deficient yin blood, and yin deficiency generates internal heat, so to avoid miscarriage it should be eaten with caution.