Ganji San for Sallow, Emaciated Children
In Stephen Chow's comedy film Kung Fu Hustle, there is a shot in which, as the Landlady chases Stephen Chow, they pass a huge billboard advertising a product called "Ganji San," which the ad says treats pediatric ganji (infantile nutritional impairment). Ganji is a traditional Chinese medicine disease term referring to a condition in children caused by weak spleen and stomach and dysfunction of transportation and transformation, leading to withering and emaciation. Ganji may arise from various chronic diseases; clinically it is characterized by a sallow, emaciated face, sparse and withered hair, sunken cheeks and dry nose, pale lips, ulcerated eyelids, a prominent spine and yellowed body, nail-biting and teeth-grinding, parched thirst, pica, a distended abdomen, and listlessness.
"Ganji San" was a very famous pediatric formula historically, but the recipe differs in different texts. For example, in Wang Kentang's Zhengzhi Zhunsheng (Standards for Diagnosis and Treatment) of the Ming dynasty, the recipe for Ganji San is: Zi Houpo (purple Magnoliae Cortex, outer bark removed, sliced, stir-fried with fresh ginger juice, net powder taken), 1 liang (30 g); Chenpi (Tangerined Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, white pith removed, powdered), Fen Gancao (powdered Glycyrrhizae Radix, nodes removed, net powder), and Luhui (Aloe, net powder), each 7 qian 5 fen (22.5 g); Bai Wuyi (white Ulmi macrocarpae Semen, whitish coat and shell removed, net powder), 5 qian (15 g); Qingdai (Indigo Naturalis, ground, net powder), 3 qian (9 g); Xuanfuhua (Inulae Flos), 1 qian 5 fen (4.5 g, net powder).
Mix the above herbs evenly, grind into a fine powder. For each year of the child's age, use 1 fen (0.3 g), taken in the morning on an empty stomach with a decoction of dengxin (Junci Medulla); thereafter regulate with Fei'er Wan. If spleen qi is not yet strong, use Qipi Wan or Da Jianpi Wan.
Zhengzhi Zhunsheng holds that Ganji San fortifies the spleen and promotes digestion, and kills parasites and moves qi. It treats pediatric ganji with a sallow face and large abdomen, urine the color of rice-washing water, acidic, yellow, foul-smelling diarrhea, dizziness and withering, hair dry and tasseled, and even dry eyes that shun light, nebulae on the eyeball, skeletal emaciation, and fever at night with coolness by day.
The composition of Ganji San in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (Part I, 2005 edition) is: Shiyan (fossil bird droppings, calcined), 100 g; Shijueming (Haliotidis Concha, calcined), 100 g; Shijunziren (Quisqualis Fructus, kernel), 100 g; Chao Jineijin (fried Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum), 50 g; Gujingcao (Eriocauli Flos), 50 g; Weilingxian (Clematidis Radix et Rhizoma), 50 g; Fuling (Poria), 100 g.
Preparation: crush the seven herbs above into fine powder, sift, and mix evenly. To take, mix 9 g with hot rice soup and a little sugar, three times daily; reduce proportionately for children under three. This formula's effect is to disperse accumulation and treat ganji; it treats pediatric ganji with a sallow face and emaciation, abdominal distension, indigestion, eye nebulae, and night blindness.
Some domestic manufacturers of Chinese patent medicines now produce Ganji San essentially according to the Pharmacopoeia recipe, but products such as Wanshoutang Ganji San differ in formula. Wanshoutang Ganji San's main ingredients are: Guanzhong (Dryopteris Crassirhizomae Rhizoma), Muxiang (Aucklandiae Radix), Fuling (Poria), Leiwan (Omphalia), Binglang (Arecae Semen), Baibu (Stemonae Radix), Shanyao (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), Qianniuzi (Pharbitidis Semen), Shiliupi (Granati Pericarpium), Shijunzi (Quisqualis Fructus), and Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix). Note that this formula uses a number of toxic herbs and is not as safe as the Pharmacopoeia recipe.
Hong Kong and Southeast Asia also sell their own Ganji San, with recipes that again differ from the mainland's. Hong Kong has reported that some manufacturers' Ganji San contained excessive mercury, indicating the presence of mercury. Such patent medicines containing highly toxic substances must be used cautiously. Patients often believe that medicines bought from overseas are more effective and safer than domestic ones; this belief may be mistaken.
Despite these differences, the indications of the various Ganji San preparations are similar: mainly pediatric indigestion, sallow and emaciated face, and abdominal distension. Generally this is caused by intestinal parasites in children, though it may also relate to other chronic wasting diseases of childhood. There are always children who, no matter how much they eat, never gain weight and who, at a tender age, develop big bellies; such children may try Ganji San.
Modern pharmacological research confirms that Ganji San has a lethal effect on a variety of parasites and some pathogenic microorganisms; this is the mechanism by which Ganji San treats pediatric emaciation due to indigestion or parasites. Ganji San also effectively relieves pain and has some effect on children with chronic abdominal pain. However, abdominal pain, distension, and poor appetite caused by acute food poisoning should not be treated with Ganji San.
Many children with tumors also suffer concurrently from the common complaint of "ganji"; it is not necessarily related to the tumor, but it affects the tumor child's quality of life, causing sallow emaciation, poor stamina, and insufficient immunity, which accelerates cancer progression. If such children present with TCM "ganji" symptoms, they may also try Ganji San.