The Anti-Cancer, Liver-Protective, Blood-Sugar-Lowering and Lipid-Lowering Effects of Bamboo Leaves

The Chinese medicine Zhuye (Bamboo Leaf) is the leaf of Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis and related grasses of the Poaceae family. TCM holds that bamboo leaf is sweet and bland in taste, cold in nature, and enters the lung, heart and stomach meridians; it has the functions of clearing heart heat, relieving restlessness, generating fluids and promoting urination. It mainly treats feverish disease with thirst, infantile convulsions, cough with counterflow and vomiting of blood, scanty dark urine, and mouth and tongue sores.

In Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun there is "Zhuye Shigao Tang" (Bamboo Leaf and Gypsum Decoction), composed of bamboo leaf, raw gypsum, Banxia (Pinellia), Renshen (Ginseng), Maidong (Ophiopogon), Zhigancao (honey-fried licorice), and Jingmi (non-glutinous rice), used to treat the syndrome of dual injury to qi and fluids in the later stage of febrile disease. The original text says: "After cold damage resolves, when the patient is emaciated with deficient qi, and qi counterflows with a desire to vomit, Zhuye Shigao Tang governs."

Zhuye Shigao Tang is made by taking Baihu Tang, removing the bitter-cold Zhimu (Anemarrhena), and adding Renshen, Maidong, Zhuye and Banxia. This adjustment is because the great heat of the febrile disease has already receded, though some residual heat remains; the patient's strength has already declined and cannot bear the harshness of Baihu Tang. The reason Banxia is added is that the patient "qi counterflows with a desire to vomit"; in modern medical terms, the digestive organs have been impaired. Banxia downbears counterflow and stops vomiting, precisely solving this problem.

So Zhuye Shigao Tang treats the condition in which, after a febrile illness has been treated or the patient's condition has resolved on its own, there remain symptoms such as vexation and thirst, fatigue, and retching. These symptoms are also prone to appear in heatstroke patients, so it is often used to treat heatstroke patterns. Vexation, thirst and fatigue are also common in diabetic patients, and some TCM physicians often treat diabetes by modifying this formula.

Zhuye Shigao Tang is also an important prescription in TCM for treating cancer fever. Studies show that the compound formed by adding Banzhilian (Scutellaria barbata) and Baihua Shegancao (Oldenlandia) to Zhuye Shigao Tang, used to treat malignant-tumor fever of the qi-yin dual deficiency type, achieves an effective rate of 56.25%, with an average fever-reduction time of 7.25 days. Hot flashes and dry mouth caused by treatment side effects in chemotherapy and radiotherapy patients can also be treated with Zhuye Shigao Tang plus Shanyao (Dioscorea), with a total effective rate of over 80%.

Clearing heat to stop thirst, and dissipating phlegm to stop cough, are the main effects of bamboo leaf. Tao Hongjing, in the Mingbie Bialu, says bamboo leaf "mainly treats phlegm-heat in the chest, and stops cough with counterflow qi." The Yaoxing Lun holds that bamboo leaf: "mainly treats vomiting of blood, heat-toxin wind, and quenches wasting-thirst." The Waitai Miyao collects a "Zhuye Tang" for heat-thirst: Wodanzhu (cut) 5 sheng, Fuling (Poria) and Shigao (gypsum) each 3 liang, wheat 3 sheng, Gualou (Trichosanthes root) 2 liang; this formula treats vexation-heat and thirst. The Shenghui Fang has a "Wodanzhu porridge" formula: "a handful of Wodanzhu, one ge of non-glutinous rice, half a qian of Yinchen (Artemisia capillaris)"; cooked into porridge and eaten, it treats infantile wind-heat of the heart with mental vagueness. There are also formulas using Wodanzhu to treat qi deficiency and vexation from heatstroke; for example, the Anhui Zhongcaoyao records: "Fresh bamboo leaf and Taizishen (Pseudostellaria) each 9g, biandouhua (hyacinth bean flower) 6g, half a sheet of fresh lotus leaf. Decoct and take."

Modern pharmacological studies show that bamboo leaf has antitumor effects; bamboo leaf flavonoids and bamboo leaf polysaccharides are the main antitumor components of bamboo leaf.

Bamboo leaf flavonoids affect indicators such as tumor inhibition rate, life prolongation rate, thymus index, spleen index, and body-weight changes before and after dosing in tumor-bearing mice; they also inhibit the formation of malignant ascites in mice and can significantly prolong survival. While antitumor, bamboo leaf flavonoids also enhance immunity. In addition, bamboo leaf flavonoids can scavenge nitrite and block the formation of the strong carcinogen nitrosamine.

Bamboo leaf polysaccharides inhibit metastatic tumors in mice, with an inhibition rate up to 50%. Studies show that the anti-cancer mechanism of bamboo leaf polysaccharides manifests mainly in two ways. First, bamboo leaf polysaccharides can enhance immune function, promote the generation and activation of immune factors, thereby activating natural killer cells in the body to inhibit tumors; second, bamboo leaf polysaccharides can inhibit tumor angiogenesis, thereby achieving the goal of suppressing the tumor.

In addition, bamboo leaf also has anti-pathogen, blood-lipid-regulating, liver-protective, antioxidant, anti-radiation, blood-sugar-lowering, antithrombotic, and cardiovascular- and cerebrovascular-protective effects.