The series of articles "New Perspectives on Traditional Chinese Medicine" is not pure theoretical knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, but an interpretation of dietary health care and ingredients of the same origin as medicine and food from the perspective of modern science and nutrition, with a view to broadening horizons, broadening ideas, enlightening wisdom, and providing new insights into the wisdom of the ancients. Perspectives, new ideas.
The ground is cold and the leaves are gone first, but Gu Hanyun cannot.
With the arrival of winter, not only is the cold air "influxing" in waves, but various pathogenic microorganisms that have been "dormant" all summer also begin to become "active", such as influenza viruses, coronaviruses, respiratory syncytial viruses, Mycoplasma, one kind and two kinds are all "fighting" to emerge. It can be said that they are "sucking their teeth" and "watching with eager eyes".
Once the body accidentally catches a cold, it is as if a "hole" has been opened in the city wall, and these external evils have penetrated into the body through the gap of the "hole", making friends, and it is like having a party in the body. So lively.
They are so lively, and the host is really suffering.
I cough during the day and at night, and I feel so confused that I don’t know what night it is. I even have some doubts about life. I feel that if I cough more, my lung tubes will be coughed out.
Faced with this kind of problem, in terms of diet, some ingredients that have the same origin as medicine and food can also help us.
To solve the cough and asthma problem we just mentioned, we can generally think about it from some angles.
For example, it can solve the "source" pathogens, solve symptoms related to cough and asthma, repair lung damage, etc.
Starting from the source, we must prevent and deal with pathogenic infections; starting from the symptoms, it is to suppress and relieve cough and asthma; starting from the subsequent recovery of the body, it is necessary to repair and maintain the lungs.
If you can do one or more of these points, your body will feel a lot more "relaxed".
There is a certain ingredient that, if used properly, can more or less accomplish these three points.
It is: licorice.
Today, let’s talk about the abilities of licorice in these aspects.
Respiratory pathogen infection
Respiratory tract infection is really a troublesome thing.
From the perspective of current Western medicine, different drugs are needed to deal with different pathogens, and only after the type of pathogen is determined can drugs be used with more confidence. Otherwise, once drug resistance develops, it will be even more troublesome.
If you want to determine what kind of infection it is, you have to go for a test.
Even if the test results come out, there may be false negatives. If there is no improvement, you still need to continue testing; if there are signs of improvement, but there are fluctuations, you still need testing to determine whether it has been completely eliminated and whether the medication needs to be adjusted.
Then the problem comes, you have to go to the hospital for testing, and an important precaution to avoid cross-infection is to avoid going to crowded places.
How could there not be many people in the hospital?
Not only are there many people, but everyone may be infected with different pathogens.
For people with weak resistance, this is a double critical blow.
It is possible that one pathogen may be infected with another before the problem is solved.
Having said that, of course, if the infection can be avoided from the beginning, there will be no subsequent problems.
However, many people feel that there are so many pathogens that it is difficult to prevent them.
For people who are not so familiar with Chinese herbal medicine, it may be difficult to prevent it, but the reasonable use of some medicinal and food ingredients can indeed be helpful.
Licorice is worth learning more about.
Licorice is used in many Chinese patent medicines that regulate external pathogenic factors, so its ability in traditional Chinese medicine is unquestionable.
What Yiru wants to say now is that even in the microscopic world, licorice can prevent and regulate to a certain extent the threats of various pathogens we are facing today.
Fight the flu virus
Influenza virus, referred to as influenza virus.
The typical clinical symptoms of influenza virus are acute high fever, body pain, fatigue and a series of respiratory symptoms.
This type of virus is mainly spread through droplets in the air, contact between susceptible people and infected people, or contact with contaminated items.
The current winter is the peak season.
In addition to the physical precautions we often mention, such as improving our own immunity, wearing masks, and washing hands frequently, we can also add some licorice to our diet, such as adding some licorice when making soup, or boiling water directly with licorice Drinking it will also be helpful in preventing such viruses.
Some scholars have conducted a series of studies using glycyrrhizic acid in licorice. Studies have shown that the use of glycyrrhizic acid can improve the survival of experimental animals infected with H1N1. The average survival days are extended from about 7 days in the control group to 8 to 10 days. sky. When antiviral drugs were combined with glycyrrhizic acid, survival and survival days were further improved.
Experimental results show that when a specific dose of glycyrrhizic acid is used in combination with certain antiviral drugs, the protection of animals infected with influenza even reaches a "full" state, and at the same time, it can reduce the virus in the lung tissue after infection with the virus. Titer and expression of inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor, IL-6 and IL-1β in serum.
In terms of its anti-viral mechanism, researchers have found that glycyrrhizic acid has the ability to resist viral replication.
Studies have shown that glycyrrhizic acid can inhibit the replication of H1N1 virus entering cells in a concentration-dependent manner. A specific dose of diammonium glycyrrhizinate can up-regulate the expression of interferon-γ gene and down-regulate the expression of TNF-α gene in H1N1-infected cells.
In other words, diammonium glycyrrhizinate can reduce the inflammatory response induced by H1N1 and reduce the immune damage of host cells.
Some scholars have found that glycyrrhizic acid can inhibit influenza virus polymerase activity and block virus replication.
Fight against coronavirus
Since the emergence of SARS coronavirus, many scholars have begun to pay attention to the resistance of licorice to coronavirus.
Some scientific researchers once used intravenous infusion of glycyrrhizic acid as an auxiliary treatment for SARS coronavirus patients, and found that the addition of glycyrrhizic acid improved the patient's body temperature, cough, chest tightness, shortness of breath, etc. degree of relief. It is especially useful in reducing the occurrence of shortness of breath and chest tightness.
In the treatment of more than 100 patients with new coronavirus pneumonia, the patient group who added diammonium glycyrrhizinate improved better than the control group. Research has also confirmed that diammonium glycyrrhizinate can counteract the adverse reactions of liver damage caused by antiviral Western drugs.
Fight respiratory syncytial virus
Respiratory syncytial virus is also a type of virus that is more likely to occur in winter and is more contagious. It can easily cause respiratory infections such as colds and rhinitis.
Like other troublesome viruses, most of these viruses are treated symptomatically.
If there is an infection, there is also the risk of secondary bacterial infection, so prevention is the top priority.
Licorice is also helpful in fighting such viruses.
Studies have shown that licorice not only inhibits virus fusion and penetration into host cells, but also prevents virus proliferation by inhibiting virus biosynthesis and mature release.
Other scholars have found that although glycyrrhizic acid cannot directly inactivate respiratory syncytial virus, it can block its adsorption to cells, thereby inhibiting the virus to a certain extent.
Relieve cough, wheezing and phlegm
Licorice is an ingredient that can relieve coughs, relieve asthma, and eliminate phlegm.
Not only that, its applications are also very wide.
It can be used for coughs, asthma, phlegm or excessive phlegm, regardless of cold or heat deficiency, external infection or internal injury.
Some people may think it is impossible, how can such ingredients be available.
Yes, licorice can really do it.
Next, we will enter the microscopic world together to see how licorice works in our bodies.
Cough relief
Many patients after catching a cold have no other symptoms except for a cough, which lasts for a long time.
Faced with this problem, you can make some soup with licorice and drink it.
Many studies have confirmed that licorice water extract can prolong the latent period of cough and reduce the number of coughs in patients.
Scholars have conducted in-depth exploration of this ability of licorice. Experiments have found that licorice can increase the secretion of phenol red in the trachea and inhibit the swelling of the auricles of experimental animals caused by certain substances, indicating that licorice and glycyrrhizic acid have antitussive and anti-inflammatory abilities.
Relieve asthma
The challenge we have to face in winter is not only coughing, but also asthma.
Especially people with a history of asthma really need to be careful every step of the way in the environment where "wolves are watching" in winter.
Adding some licorice to your diet in moderation is also helpful in preventing and alleviating asthma-related symptoms.
Some scholars once added licorice to the basic clinical conditioning of asthma patients, and then conducted observations. The results showed that the addition of licorice effectively alleviated the patients' asthma symptoms and airway inflammatory response.
Research shows that licorice may reduce airway inflammation and relieve asthma by regulating immune balance.
Expectorant
In terms of eliminating phlegm, licorice is also quite capable.
For example, platycodon licorice decoction is very suitable for treating problems such as phlegm congestion in the lungs.
Licorice and Platycodon soup:
Take about 10 grams of licorice and 20 to 30 grams of platycodon and make soup for drinking.
This soup can open up lung qi and help us expel phlegm evil from the body.
Modern science has also conducted some research on the related mechanisms of licorice for eliminating phlegm.
Studies have shown that glycyrrhizic acid can inhibit excessive production of mucus and inflammatory response of airway epithelial cells by inhibiting mucin gene transcription.
Some scholars have found that glycyrrhizic acid at a specific concentration can counteract the gene, protein and phosphorylation of human airway epithelial cells induced by human neutrophil elastase to highly express mucin 5AC, p38 and nuclear factor-κBp65, and counteract the down-regulation of IκBα gene and protein phosphorylation. change.
In other words, glycyrrhizic acid can downregulate p38 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), upregulate the combination of NF-κB and IκBα, inhibit neutrophil elastase-induced mucin overexpression, and reduce airway mucus hypersecretion, thus Carry out expectoration.
Repair lung damage
The harm that every war brings to people is not only the artillery fire in the sky during battles, but also the damage and destruction of homes caused by war.
The same goes for the "war" going on inside the body.
Many times, even if the external evils are "expelled", the battlefield is our tissues, organs and cells, and we need to spend a certain amount of time and energy to repair them.
This is also the reason why sometimes it is clear that the disease is “recovered” from the test results, but certain symptoms still appear from time to time.
It is probably because the internal damage in our bodies has not been completely repaired, and our "home" is still a "mess" after the war.
Licorice can help us "repair our homes."
Studies have shown that licorice decoction can combat pneumonia lesions caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, that is, it can reduce pulmonary capillary dilation, congestion, intra-alveolar cellulose filament exudation, alveolar rupture, fusion, occlusion, and alveolar structural damage in the model control group, and reduce Serous exudate, red blood cells, neutrophils, and macrophages in the alveolar space.
Some scholars have found that glycyrrhizic acid can protect against acute lung injury by regulating the release of pro-inflammatory factors and anti-inflammatory factors and inhibiting cell apoptosis.
Some people develop pulmonary fibrosis after a "cold". Licorice can also alleviate such problems to a certain extent.
Experimental results show that diammonium glycyrrhizinate can produce anti-pulmonary fibrosis effects by reducing the secretion of TGFβ1 and connective tissue growth factor in lung tissue.
There is a lot to be said about licorice, an ingredient that has the same origin as medicine and food.
In addition to the cough-relieving content mentioned today, it is also a good choice for treating heart problems after illness. For example, the Zhigancao Decoction introduced by Dr. Luo before is a very typical example.
Regarding the content related to licorice and the heart, if you are interested, we will take the time to explain it in detail later, so don’t worry.
Here is a simple point to mention, that is, when we use licorice, it should be used raw to clear away heat and detoxify, and it should be used broiled to replenish qi and restore pulse.
In other words, when using it to treat phlegm-heat coughs, relieve coughs and reduce phlegm, raw licorice can be used; if it is used to treat problems related to insufficient heart qi and weak spleen and stomach, you need to use licorice that has been roasted with honey.
Of course, we will emphasize these again when talking about the "inextricable" connection between licorice and the heart.
The weather is getting colder. Everyone must pay attention to protecting themselves and their families.
Some people say that a butterfly flapping its wings occasionally in the Amazon rainforest can cause a tornado in Texas two weeks later.
Sometimes, the body's recuperation has the same purpose.
It may be that just a small change in the diet, such as the appearance of licorice, can cause unexpected changes in our bodies.
Don't be afraid of storms, don't worry about the cold wind and the end of the day.
Because Chinese herbal medicine will always be by our side and protect us.
No matter what happens, remember to move forward.
Spring is never too late, and there will be time to meet again.
