When going through an overview of Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) from Gale's Encyclopedia of Medicine, it listed five popular herbs that are used now in the U.S.: astragalus (Huang qi), dong quai (dang gui), ginseng (ren shen), reishi mushroom (ling zhi), and schisandra (wu wei zu). I thought that I would dedicate a journal (in the order listed most likely) to each of these to at least give me a direction of which herbs to start researching.
Astragalus root is usually used in medicine and can come in the form of tea, soup, in a dietary supplement, and extracts. Its main use is to build the immune system.
It has many uses for more common problems like colds and seasonal allergies. It can also help with asthma and the respiratory system. For women, it is often used as a regulator for menstrual cycles and helps with menopause.
For more serious diseases, recent studies have shown that astragalus helps people with different types of kidney issues. It can reduce kidney infection in children who have nephrotic syndrome and it also improves kidney function in people who have diabetic nephropathy.
New research also shows that astragalus can help cancer patients going through chemotherapy. It helps prevent diarrhea, nausea vomiting, and tiredness from cancer treatment in breast, lung, and cervical cancer. In lung cancer, some studies have shown that it reduces the risk of death from platinum-based chemotherapy. On another note, astragalus has been proven to help boost the immune system of those with HIV/AIDS as well as cancer patients. This goes to show that CHM not only can be used for things like the common cold but for more life-threatening diseases as well.
For more information, check out my “Chinese Herbal Medicine Notes”.
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