I have an old friend, Sister Si Yu, a famous prose writer. The eldest sister has a kind heart and pays attention to medicine to help others. My eldest sister’s family has health problems and she often asks me for advice, so we have a good relationship.
I remember that about three years ago, her old mother was very old and suffered from uremia. She was in critical condition and was living in the ICU. She asked me about my treatment methods. I listened to her talk about the situation on WeChat and felt that I was really caught off guard. Because I am too old, don’t eat well, have been ill for a long time, and am physically weak, and I am not there at the scene, it is really difficult to give a prescription.
In this way, three years have passed. A few days ago, while we were talking about other things, I suddenly asked my eldest sister, how is her old mother? She said it was not bad. Although she is still on dialysis, she is still in good condition. I was shocked and asked her how she managed. She said there was really no other way out at that time, because the old man had not eaten enough for many days. She happened to have bird's nests at home, so she stewed one every day and fed them to the old man's nose. As a result, after using bird's nest, the old man's blood pressure began to return to normal, and then his health became better and better. All the doctors came to ask her, what medicine did she give the old man? She replied that she didn't eat anything and only used bird's nest. Until now, the old man has been taking bird's nest every day. Then, the eldest sister introduced me to another case. It was an elder of hers who suffered from pulmonary heart disease and had been hospitalized twice. She thought that since this bird's nest was so effective, the old man happened to be hospitalized, so she recommended it. As a result, the old man recovered. I was discharged from the hospital and so far everything is fine.
Finally, Sister Si Yu said to me: "Dr. Luo, this is just my example, but there must be truth in it. I hope you can do more research on traditional Chinese medicine. If it can save people's lives, it will be a great blessing." Sister's compassion is very impressive. I was touched. In fact, the recipe I talked about before about taking Panax notoginseng powder and American ginseng powder to protect the heart was told to me by my elder sister and she hoped that I would spread it widely to benefit the public.
After listening to the cases introduced by the elder sister, I couldn't help but think of an ancient person related to bird's nests. He was the famous Emperor Qianlong.
Emperor Qianlong had the longest lifespan among Chinese emperors. He was full of energy and managed everything, but he still lived to be 89 years old. This was also the second longest among emperors in the world. According to records, only one Egyptian pharaoh lived one year older than him. .
Therefore, Emperor Qianlong’s health-preserving scriptures should be worthy of our study. So, what good things does he eat? Eat cordyceps? I really haven't seen any records. What we saw him eating the most was actually bird’s nests! I am not just saying this in vain. We can now see the Qing palace archives. Every meal the emperor ate was recorded, called the "Meal Base". Therefore, we can use these files to see how he eats bird's nests.
First of all, Emperor Qianlong's habit was that the first thing he did when he got up every morning was to eat a bowl of bird's nest stewed with rock sugar. This was almost an unbreakable habit. For example, in the 30th year of Qianlong's reign, he was going to the south of the Yangtze River. Even on the way, this habit did not stop. According to the "Meal Plan for the Jiangnan Festival in the 30th Year of Qianlong's reign", from the 16th of the first lunar month to the 20th of April (inclusive) For a total of 124 days (leap February), Emperor Qianlong drank a bowl of bird's nest stewed with rock sugar every morning when he got up every morning. For 124 days in a row, he never missed a day.
Moreover, when he usually eats, there is a rule that the first or second course of every meal must have a dish made from bird's nest. I can see a lot of records of his meals here. Let me just pick a day for you.
For example, a certain dinner he had when he went to Jiangnan was as follows:
Before the 15th day of February, dinner was served at Daying Wharf in Chongjiawan, and a folding table was set up: a piece of fat chicken, Huizhou tofu, and a piece of bird's nest minced meat (made by Zhang Cheng and Song Yuan). A taste of fat chicken shredded soup. Afterwards: a plate of chicken fat from the fire-smoked stall and a fruit cake (made by Zhang Dongguan). The steamed stuffed buns stuffed with pork are one item, and the steamed buns with chess cake are one item. Governor Yin Jishanjin: one dish of duck with shredded pork, one dish of smoked cabbage with swallow bamboo shoots, one dish of fried pickled cauliflower with gluten, and one dish of ham (the second dish is a five-inch plate). Second dish of side dishes: first dish of silver sunflower box, second dish of silver plate. Comes with: a dish of Japonica rice meal and a dish of shredded chicken soup. There are five tables of front food, four dishes of milk, twelve dishes of pastry, one table of sixteen dishes, four dishes of pastry, four dishes of No. 2 yellow bowl, six dishes of inner tube leading furnace food, one table of fourteen dishes, and a plate of meat. There is one table for eight dishes and two tables for mutton. After progressing, you will be rewarded with: Queen Huizhou Tofu, Concubine Qing, Nang Duck, Concubine Ling, Fruit Cake, and Concubine Rong, platters. Afternoon service: one dish of hot and sour lamb tripe, one dish of stir-fried swallow bamboo shoots with pickled vegetables, one dish of fried shredded chicken with bird's nest (these two varieties were made in the Song and Yuan Dynasties), Governor Yin Jishanjin: one dish of sweet and sour dried radish, and one dish of ham.
The "late afternoon service" here refers to Qianlong's midnight snack. Look, there is another bird's nest dish.
It seems that Emperor Qianlong had a special liking for bird's nests and ate them several times a day. My point of view is: Qianlong's longevity is directly related to bird's nest, because in the visible literature, the most health care products Qianlong took was bird's nest, followed by ginseng and other drugs.
However, many nutrition experts now say: "The main component of bird's nest is protein, which is the same as eggs, so eating bird's nests is the same as eating eggs." So, is this really the case?
What is the secret of bird's nest?
What does Chinese medicine think of bird's nest?
◆◆Wang Mengying of the Qing Dynasty said in "Suixiju Diet Spectrum" that bird's nest is "sweet and flat. It nourishes gastric juice, nourishes lung yin, moistens dryness and relieves dryness, promotes fluid production and benefits blood, relieves deficiency cough and dysentery, and regulates deficiency diaphragm and deficiency phlegm." . It is especially good for those who are weak after illness."
◆◆The famous medical doctor Huang Gongxiu said in "Materia Medica Seeking Truth": "Bird's nest enters the lungs to enliven life, enters the kidneys to nourish water, and enters the stomach to nourish the heart, so that it can nourish without causing dryness, moisturize without causing stagnation, and become a neutralizing medicine. The most delicious taste is because the medicine for deficiency and tuberculosis is difficult to obtain, so it is often effective when used, and this is why it is so meaningful."
It can be seen that the ancients believed that the main function of bird's nest is to nourish the lungs, heart, spleen, stomach, and kidney meridians. Its nature and taste are sweet and flat, so it can be used by people with yin deficiency and yang deficiency, and it is more suitable for people with yin deficiency and heat. It is particularly peaceful, so when the patient's condition is complex and it is difficult to take other medicines, bird's nest can actually work.
This is the discussion of the ancients, but it is very regrettable. I think modern Chinese medicine does not have much experience in the application of bird's nest. I think the reasons are multi-faceted. One of the important reasons is that bird's nest is relatively expensive and has not been included in the scope of daily health care. Generally, Chinese medicine doctors themselves cannot afford to eat bird's nest, so they have no personal experience with this thing and therefore do not understand its functions.
I think that the value of bird's nest is far from being fully developed. There are too many functions in it that need further study.
Let’s take a look at bird’s nests from modern medicine’s research.
Modern research has confirmed that bird's nest is rich in water-soluble protein, carbohydrates, trace elements, such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, potassium, and 8 kinds of amino acids necessary for the human body.
The most important thing is that people found that bird's nest is rich in something called sialic acid. Because the content in bird's nest is as high as 7% to 11%, sialic acid is also called bird's nest acid. Bird's nest acid is a group of neuraminic acid derivatives. It is a ubiquitous substance in the biological world. In the human body, the brain has the highest content of bird's nest acid. The content of bird's nest acid in brain gray matter is about 15 times that of internal organs such as liver and lungs. Bird's nest acid content is also very high in maternal colostrum.
So, what exactly does bird's nest acid do? Research shows that bird's nest acid is particularly beneficial to the brain. It acts on brain cell membranes and synapses, increasing the reaction speed of brain nerve cell synapses, thus promoting the development of memory and intelligence. I have seen foreign studies that used bird's nest acid on mice and found that these mice performed significantly better in the maze test than those without the drug. Research by New Zealand scientists has also confirmed that supplementing bird's nest acid to infants and young children can increase the concentration of bird's nest acid in the brain, thereby improving the brain's learning ability.
This can explain why the content of bird's nest acid in the mother's colostrum of animals is very high, because it promotes the brain development of newborns.
Therefore, it is very reasonable for many pregnant women to take bird's nest now.
In addition to its benefits for the brain, bird's nest acid can regulate intestinal flora and promote intestinal absorption of trace elements. Moreover, bird's nest acid can also improve the body's immunity, which is very helpful in resisting the invasion of external microorganisms.
After reading these research results, I feel that bird's nest is still a food that needs to be developed. The ancients said it was good and said it was "especially wonderful for treating various deficiencies after illness." How wonderful is it? Now it seems that there are still too many mysteries waiting to be revealed for just a bird's nest acid. With the deepening of research, I believe there will be more and more effects waiting for us.
In addition, in addition to being rich in bird's nest acid, bird's nest also has two special substances, namely epidermal growth factor (EGF) and colony-stimulating factor (CSF). A large number of modern studies have proven that epidermal growth factor can inhibit the expression of cell aging genes and promote the repair of epidermal cells. Therefore, many women take bird's nest and feel that their skin has become better and their appearance has become younger. In fact, ancient Chinese people described this mechanism in just two sentences: Bird's nest nourishes the lungs, and the lungs govern the fur.
There are a lot of medical papers on these contents. I just describe them in the simplest way and introduce them to you. But frankly speaking, these studies are still far from clinical practice. Using these data, it is impossible to explain the case where Sister Si Yu gave her mother bird's nest and saved her from an endangered state. The eldest sister especially emphasized to me:
1. She only took bird's nest at that time, and in the past three years, she did not dare to give her mother any other medicines. She only took bird's nest every day, which cost more than 2,000 yuan a month;
2. Her case is an individual case, and it does not mean that it is effective for all patients. We hope that we will conduct research.
I feel that even in individual cases, there are contents worth pondering. Many of us now don’t quite understand the ancient people’s records of the efficacy of medicines, and are suspicious of them. These really need to be practiced and discovered by us.
So, what are the problems with using bird's nest?
◢Problem 1: The main problem is fraud.
Two of the most serious problems are soaking them in medicated water. Because natural bird's nests are not that white, and there are swallow hairs mixed in them, many unscrupulous merchants soak them in medicated water, such as hydrogen peroxide, so that the color of the swallow hairs disappears. , there is no need to choose, it saves costs, but it is harmful to health; another problem is glue. In order to add weight to the bird's nest, glue is applied to the bird's nest, which is also a chronic disease. Therefore, when choosing bird's nests, don't buy the snow-white ones. You can smell them and choose ones that don't have a pungent potion smell.
Another problem is that smuggling of bird's nests was serious in the past, but now the country strictly controls it, and everyone must buy bird's nests that come through formal channels and have traceability marks. If you want to buy stewed finished products, you should choose big brands and be cautious about those from small workshops.
◢Question 2: Another frequently asked question is, does bird's nest contain hormones? It is said that it contains hormones and eating it is not good for the human body.
Answer: Yes, all animal tissues contain hormones. For example, the ribs you buy in the supermarket must also contain hormones. Hormones are a normal component of the animal body and cannot be absent. Therefore, bird's nests also contain hormones, and the hormones contained in bird's nests must be less than those in the pork, beef, and radish and cabbage you buy, so they can be ignored.
◢Question 3: A friend asked, can children eat bird's nest?
The answer is yes, a small amount is enough, which is good for promoting children’s brain development.
◢Question 4: Another friend asked: Dr. Luo, do you have any recommended brand of bird's nest?
The answer is: No, I think all regular bird's nests approved by the state for import are acceptable. Big brands are more trustworthy. Because the cost of counterfeiting by big brands is too high, they generally don't dare to do so.
◢Question 5: Buddhist vegetarians may also have questions: Is taking bird’s nest considered killing?
The answer is: no. Bird's nest refers to the nest built by the saliva secreted by some swifts of the order Swiftidae and several species of swiftlets of the genus Swiftlet, and mixed with other substances. Therefore, taking bird's nest will not harm the life of the swallow at all. However, after we take the bird's nest away, the swallow will make a new nest. Therefore, eating bird's nest is not killing.
In short, modern Chinese medicine has too little clinical practice on bird's nest. However, based on my previous experience, I judge that bird's nest has the same powerful power as other medicinal and food products that were highly praised by the ancients. What the ancients said is true, but we moderns have done too little research on it, which requires modern medical workers to dig deeper.
I am writing this article not to ask everyone to just eat bird's nests, but to ask us to broaden our minds and understand ancient culture from another perspective. Moreover, if there is a patient who is really in critical condition and cannot eat well, then using bird's nest to replenish righteousness will be an additional option. Maybe it will be of great benefit to the patient?
Life is priceless, we should try our best to think of ways to save people, and never give up every possible effective idea. This is the whole meaning of my work.
