Baokening Granules: A Chinese Patent Medicine for Pediatric Cough and Wheeze
Baokening Keli (Precious-Calmness Granules) is a modern Chinese patent medicine preparation. Its herbs include: perilla leaf (zisuye), mulberry leaf (sangye), Peucedanum (qianhu), Zhejiang fritillary (zhebeimu), Ephedra (mahuang), Platycodon (jiegeng), processed Arisaema (tiannanxing), tangerine peel (chenpi), bitter apricot seed (kuxingren, fried), Scutellaria (huangqin), indigo (qingdai), Trichosanthes root (tianhuafen), immature bitter orange (zhiqiao, bran-fried), hawthorn (shanzha, fried), Licorice (gancao), and artificial bezoar (rengong niuhuang). The product is gray-green granules, sweet with a slight bitter taste.
Baokening Granules releases heat and the exterior, stops cough and resolves phlegm. It treats headache and fever, cough with profuse sputum, panting and wheezing, sore swollen throat, and irritability caused by external wind-cold with internal heat and retained food in children.
Cough is one of the common diseases of pediatrics. The causes and clinical manifestations of cough in children are not identical to those in adults. Young children, not knowing restraint in diet, easily have infections intertwined with food stagnation. Therefore, when treating children's cough, one should also treat the food stagnation.
In this formula, perilla leaf, tangerine peel, hawthorn, immature bitter orange, and Licorice all strengthen the stomach and digest food; perilla leaf, tangerine peel, and Licorice also resolve phlegm and stop cough. Peucedanum, Zhejiang fritillary, Ephedra, Platycodon, Arisaema, and bitter apricot seed are common cough-relieving and anti-asthma herbs. Scutellaria, indigo, Trichosanthes root, and artificial bezoar clear heat and resolve toxins; Scutellaria and indigo in particular are dedicated herbs for clearing lung heat. Thus this formula is well targeted at pediatric cough and wheeze.
If used together with Uncaria-Mentha tea (steep 3 Uncaria hooks and 0.5 g of mentha in boiling water and take as a tea), the cough-relieving and anti-asthma effect will be even better.