Xingpi Kaiwei Granules: A Chinese Patent Medicine for Summer Poor Appetite

Xingpi Kaiwei Keli (Spleen-Awakening Appetite-Stimulating Granules) is a Chinese patent medicine sold at most online and offline pharmacies. Its composition is: Guya (Fructus Setariae Germinatus), Daoya (Fructus Oryzae Germinatus), Heye (Nelumbinis Folium), Foshou (Citri Sarcodactylis Fructus), Xiangyuan (Citri Fructus), Shijunzi (Quisqualis Fructus), Dongguazi (Benincasae Semen), Baishao (Paeoniae Radix Alba), and Gancao (Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma). Its main action is to awaken the spleen and stimulate the appetite. It is indicated for food stagnation due to spleen-stomach disharmony, presenting with a sallow complexion and fatigue, low appetite, abdominal distension and pain, small intake and frequent loose stools. This condition is mostly seen in summer and autumn; the etiology relates to faster microbial reproduction in those seasons, when people more easily encounter unclean food and develop various gastrointestinal illnesses leading to indigestion.

Guyya and Daoya in Xingpi Kaiwei Granules promote digestion; Heye, Foshou, and Xiangyuan are all aromatic substances that awaken the spleen, stimulate the appetite, move qi, and resolve stagnation; Shijunzi kills and inhibits parasites and microbes, suppressing many kinds of microorganisms; Dongguazi promotes urination and drains dampness, dispelling summer-heat dampness and separating dampness from heat; Baishao and Gancao stop pain, and Gancao also fortifies the spleen. Thus this prescription treats both the root and the manifestation of summer-autumn spleen-stomach discomfort.

Besides seasonal indigestion, this product may also be used for poor appetite after chemotherapy in cancer patients. But Xingpi Kaiwei Granules only have an auxiliary therapeutic role in cancer and must be combined with an overall anti-cancer plan.