Bayberry Kernel, Bark, and Root Bark Can Treat Gastric Cancer
Yangmei (bayberry) is a delicious fruit that can also be used medicinally; it has the effects of generating fluids and relieving vexation, harmonizing the center and digesting food, and astringing the intestines to stop diarrhea.Not only the bayberry fruit but also its kernel, bark, and root bark can all be used medicinally. Bayberry kernel, bark, and root bark can all be used to treat gastric and esophageal cancer. In vitro experiments show that bayberry kernel extract has a marked killing and inhibitory effect on gastric cancer (803, 823) cells.Bayberry kernel has the effects of promoting urination to reduce swelling and astringing sores; in ancient times it was mostly used to treat beriberi (i.e., today's gout and lower-leg edema) and yagan (gum erosion and bleeding). Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica quotes a story from Wang Mingqing's Huizhu Lu: the Song dynasty powerful official Tong Guan suffered from beriberi, and Wang Yi, the prefect of Kuaiji, sent him 50 dan (an ancient unit) of bayberry kernel; Tong Guan took it regularly and was cured of his beriberi.Bayberry kernel is relatively hard to obtain and expensive. In folk tradition, people mostly use bayberry bark and root to treat disease; the bark and root have essentially the same action. Traditional TCM holds that they have the effects of moving qi and activating blood, relieving pain, and stopping bleeding, and can treat epigastric and abdominal pain, hypochondriac pain, toothache, hernia, hematemesis, epistaxis, metrorrhagia, traumatic bleeding, hemorrhoidal bleeding, traumatic injuries, bone fractures, sores with swelling and pain, mumps, yagan, scalds and burns, chronic lower-leg ulcers, eczema, scabies, dysentery, and diarrhea.In ancient times they were mostly used for toothache and skin diseases; for example, Rihuazi Bencao says of bayberry bark: "decoct and wash malignant sores, scabies, and tinea"; Compendium of Materia Medica says: "decoct in water and rinse for toothache; take it to resolve arsenic poisoning; burn to ash, mix with oil, and apply to scalds and burns." But in modern folk tradition they are mostly used for stomach pain and gastric cancer. Professor Fang Mingqian, a renowned TCM external-medicine specialist in China, commonly uses bayberry bark and root bark to treat gastric cancer.Bayberry bark and root bark are especially good at treating stomach disease. The southern-materia-medica Zhongcaoyao Xue records this folk proven formula: "for qi-stagnation pain in the stomach and intestines, take 6–9g of bayberry root bark decocted in water." Fujian Zhongcaoyao has this proven formula: "for dysphagia with vomiting, take 60g of fresh bayberry root decocted in water"; the "dysphagia with vomiting" here is the pyloric obstruction caused by cardia cancer and esophageal cancer. Guizhou Caoyao records a local folk formula: "for hematemesis and uterine flooding, stew 120g of bayberry root bark with 250g of meat and eat it"; hematemesis is mostly related to gastric tumors, and uterine flooding to cervical cancer. Folk doses are generally large, and the effect is better than the standard dose; this is worth learning from.Bayberry bark and root bark both have a hemostatic effect. Animal experiments show that when powder of bayberry root bark is applied to a wound caused by free severance of the femoral artery in a large dog, bleeding stops in just two minutes. The water decoction of bayberry bark and root bark also inhibits Shigella, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, so besides treating upper-digestive-tract tumors and ulcerative diseases, they can also treat enteritis and dysentery.Bayberry bark and root bark can also treat stomach pain caused by ordinary gastritis. Quanguo Zhongcaoyao Huibian includes one: "for gastric and duodenal ulcers and stomach pain, take equal parts bayberry bark (coarse bark removed) and Qingmuxiang (Aristolochia), grind into fine powder, make into honey pills each weighing 9g; take 2 pills each time, twice a day, with warm water."