The Processing of Medicinal Herbs

History of TCm preparations

The processing of medicinal herbs has a history of 2,000 years in China. Lei’s Treatise on Preparation of Drugs, published in the fifth century, was the first pharmaceutical treatise ever to lay down fundamental methods of preparing and processing around 300 medicinal herbs. The processing of TCM ingredients has since become a branch of medical science.

Functions of TCm preparations (1)

Processing a TCM ingredient enhances its effect. For instance, sprinkling scutellaria with rice wine and then stir-frying it heightens its function of ridding the physical body of heat. It is often prescribed for coughs caused by lung-heat.

Functions of TCm preparations (2)

Processing a TCM ingredient can change its properties. For instance, fleeceflower root is a laxative, but when steamed can also act as a tonic that replenishes the vital essences of the liver and kidneys, so enriching the blood and relieving an aching back or knees, and halting the premature graying of hair.

Functions of TCm preparations (3)

Processing a TCM ingredient can send it more directly it to the relevant internal organs via specific meridians and collaterals. For instance, soaking dried green exocarp of tangerines in vinegar helps the liver absorb this remedy and so more effectively treat indigestion and swellings of the breast.

Functions of TCm preparations (4)

Processing a TCM ingredient reduces its toxicity. For instance, after being transformed into a frostlike powder, croton can be taken orally to treat ascites and abdominal distension

TCm preparation procedures

TCM preparations entail precise technological procedures. For instance, the “nine steamings and nine dryings” of medicinal herbs carry strict requirements as to the container, duration and degree of heating, the water used, length of steaming and season during which the process is carried out. Only then can the TCM remedy have its optimal effect. For instance, after being thus processed, black sesame functions to nourish the kidneys and slow the aging process.

Forms of TCm preparations

TCM remedies are in various forms, including pills, powders, soft extracts, pellets, decoctions, and medicated liquor. They retain the ingredients’ natural properties, in contrast to the extracted chemicals that constitute Western pharmaceuticals.

protection of preparation Technologies

Many processing procedures are carried out manually. They are crystallizations of experiences accumulated over thousands of years. China has recently taken legal measures to protect the intellectual property rights to this precious resource that is acknowledged as the highest degree of scientific wealth.