Wuwei Qingzhi San, a Famous Mongolian Medicine Formula for Stomach Disease
The Mongolian people of China have unique ethnopharmacological experience, and some Mongolian medicine empirical formulas are quite effective. Wuwei Qingzhi San is a famous Mongolian medicine formula for indigestion. It consists of Shiliu (pomegranate) 400 g, Honghua (Flos Carthami) 200 g, Baidoukou (Semen Amomi Rotundus) 50 g, Rougui (Cortex Cinnamomi) 50 g and Bibo (Fructus Piperis Longi) 50 g. When used, the five herbs are ground together into a fine powder, sifted and well mixed; take 2-3 g each time with water, 2-3 times daily.
The main action of Wuwei Qingzhi San is to open constraint and promote digestion, and warm the stomach. It is indicated for poor appetite, indigestion, cold epigastric pain, fullness and belching, abdominal distension and diarrhea. This formula promotes digestion and defecation and protects the gastric mucosa. Animal experiments confirm that Wuwei Qingzhi San promotes gastric emptying in mice, increases the propulsive distance of charcoal powder in the small intestine, and accelerates intestinal peristalsis. At the same time, it inhibits hydrochloric-acid-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats and protects the gastric mucosa, but has no significant effect on gastric juice or gastric acid secretion in rats.
Wuwei Qingzhi San can be used for stomach pain, belching, gastric distension, indigestion and loose stools caused by gastric ulcer and gastritis. Mongolian medicine borrowed much experience from traditional Chinese medicine; its herbs are also divided into cold and hot, and this formula treats the stomach-cold pattern and is not suitable for stomach-heat patterns.
The Shiliu used here is a fruit familiar to us; pomegranate is sweet-sour and palatable. After eating it, salivary gland secretion in the mouth is promoted, improving symptoms of fluid depletion, dry mouth, dry throat and vexed thirst, and improving appetite. At the same time pomegranate has astringing and securing, antidiarrheal and hemostatic effects; TCM uses pomegranate for chronic diarrhea, chronic dysentery, hematochezia and metrorrhagia. But eating too much pomegranate causes constipation, so constipated patients should not use it.
Honghua in this formula activates blood and unblocks the channels, resolves stasis and stops pain; many famous TCM formulas for pain use Honghua, such as Tao Hong Siwu Decoction, Dieda Wan, Qili San and Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction. Honghua is used in a relatively large dose here because TCM holds that chronic illness necessarily involves stasis; chronic stomach disease that lingers long usually has blood stasis. Honghua activates blood and disperses stasis while Shiliu stops bleeding; the two, though seemingly opposite, are actually just right. One activates blood and one stops bleeding; used together they achieve the TCM goal of "stopping bleeding without leaving stasis."
Baidoukou, Rougui and Bibo were all once major spices on the Silk Road. These are all "sea medicines," spices originally imported into China from overseas; they were first used as seasonings for dishes and later gradually as medicines. Because these spices boost appetite and promote digestion, they were naturally used to treat indigestion. Not only Han physicians but also Mongolian physicians used them as medicine.
By the way, all five herbs in this formula are both food and medicine, so the side effects are negligible. Both adults and children can use it. But Honghua is forbidden in pregnancy, so pregnant women should not use this formula.