The Anticancer, Diuretic, and Anti-Shigella Effects of Shuihonghuazi (Polygonum orientale Fruit)
Shuihonghuazi is the fruit of Polygonum orientale (family Polygonaceae), containing quercetin and taxifolin. It is not a commonly used Chinese herb, but that does not mean its medicinal history in China is short. As early as the Tang dynasty, Sun Simiao included it in his work Qianjin Yaofang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold).
According to successive materia medica, the main effects of Shuihonghuazi are to invigorate blood and disperse accumulation, fortify the spleen and drain dampness, clear heat and resolve toxin, and brighten the eyes. It can be used for hypochondriac and abdominal concretions, ascites (water distention), epigastric pain, poor appetite with abdominal distention, fire eye (conjunctivitis), sores and swellings, and scrofula. These conditions roughly correspond to ascitic cancer, ascites, stomach pain, conjunctivitis, tuberculous lymphadenitis, and lymph-node enlargement today.
Bencao Bielu (Apocryphal Materia Medica) records that Shuihonghuazi "mainly treats wasting-thirst (xiaoke), dispels heat, brightens the eyes, and boosts qi." This suggests the ancients may have used it for diabetes-like conditions. Bencao Yanyi holds that Shuihonghuazi "treats scrofula, and treats even ulcerated cases," used as follows: take Shuihonghuazi in whatever amount (no fixed dose), dry-fry half, use the other half raw, pound both together into powder; take two qian stirred into good wine, three times a day - after meals and at bedtime. The scrofula of ancient TCM refers to lymph-node enlargement or tuberculous lymphadenitis.
Diannan Bencao (Materia Medica of Yunnan) holds that Shuihonghuazi "breaks blood, treats pediatric abdominal masses and accumulations, resolves long-standing hard accumulations, and treats women's stony abdominal concretions." Pinhui Jingyao also records that Shuihonghuazi "brightens the eyes and resolves sore toxin." Baoshoutang Jingyan Fang records: "For abdominal masses, take one bowl of Polygonum orientale or its fruit, with three bowls of water, simmer over moderate heat into a paste; spread it according to the size of the mass and apply, and also take the paste stirred into wine. Avoid meat, fish, greasy foods." These records all relate to tumor-like diseases.
So ancient Chinese physicians did use Shuihonghuazi to treat tumor-like diseases, and modern Chinese-herb books also record its use for ascites and tumors. For example, Xinjiang Zhongcaoyao Shouce (Xinjiang Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine) records that Shuihonghuazi treats chronic hepatitis and cirrhotic ascites, as well as hepatosplenomegaly and abdominal distention.
Some herbal books also record that Shuihonghuazi treats conjunctivitis. For example, Qingdao Zhongcaoyao Shouce (Qingdao Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine) records a formula for conjunctivitis: 9 g of Shuihonghuazi, 9 g of Scutellaria, 12 g of chrysanthemum, and 6 g of Gentiana, decocted in water. This conjunctivitis is the "fire eye" recorded in ancient TCM classics.
The main component of Shuihonghuazi, quercetin, is found in many plants and is also extracted for medicinal use. Its main effects are anti-inflammatory and antioxidant; it inhibits cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX) produced in inflammation, and has antitussive, anti-asthmatic, detumescent, diuretic, heat-clearing, toxin-resolving, and immune-boosting effects. This may be the main mechanism by which Shuihonghuazi treats ascites.
When Shuihonghuazi decoction or fluid extract is administered to experimental rats by gastric gavage, it has a significant diuretic effect without increasing potassium or sodium excretion, and without disturbing electrolyte balance. But it is accompanied by a marked reduction in red-cell volume and an increase in urinary creatinine, and weakens the antidiuretic effect of pituitrin.
Taxifolin has antioxidant effects, inhibits lipoprotein oxidation and DNA damage caused by hydrogen free radicals, can treat asthma, and has immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer effects. In recent years many vendors have hyped taxifolin health supplements at high prices; Shuihonghuazi is far cheaper.
Pharmacological experiments show Shuihonghuazi has some anticancer effect, with some inhibitory action against mouse Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (ascites and solid forms) and sarcoma S180, though the effect is unstable. In addition, tests found that Shuihonghuazi water decoction has marked antibacterial activity in vitro against Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei.
Because most pharmacies do not stock Shuihonghuazi, clinicians rarely prescribe it, but some do. Professor Zhao Shaoqin used it to treat big-head plague and cancer; Professor Sun Guizhi commonly used it for cancerous ascites; Professor Ye Jiquan's empirical formulas for Parkinson's disease, myasthenia gravis, and schizophrenia all included Shuihonghuazi (see Ye Jiquan's Collection of Modern Chinese Materia Medica Prescriptions). I also often add Shuihonghuazi to ascites formulas, at the usual dose of 10-30 g.