Can Chinese medicine with sugar be made into a herbal cola?

This is the 3874th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

"Good medicine tastes bitter but is good for the disease" has long been deeply rooted in people's minds, but sometimes the bitterness of Chinese medicine is really hard to tolerate, especially for children. Many people use sugar to neutralize the bitterness. Is this practice advisable? Will it reduce the efficacy of Chinese medicine? Can Chinese medicine with sugar be made into a herbal cola?

Although everyone knows that good medicine tastes bitter, many people still cannot stand the bitterness. Some people even spit it out after taking a few sips because the bitterness is unbearable. Some people also feel nauseous when they smell the bitter taste of traditional Chinese medicine.

Many mothers put a lot of sugar in the decoction of Chinese medicine for their children, fearing that it would be too bitter and the children would make a fuss and refuse to drink it. In fact, Chinese medicine should not be drunk "sweetly".

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that bitterness can "drain, dry, and strengthen", that is, it has the functions of clearing away heat, relieving qi reversal, relieving constipation, drying dampness, and strengthening yin (draining fire and preserving yin). Bitterness enters the heart, and if the heart fire is too strong, bitterness can eliminate it.

Bitterness can strengthen the stomach. Studies have shown that bitterness can reflexively cause an increase in the secretion of saliva and gastric juice through the reflex activity of the vagus nerve.

Do not add sugar when taking Chinese medicine

When taking Chinese medicine, you should not only control the dosage, but also pay attention to some other precautions, among which not adding sugar is a relatively important point.

You cannot add sugar when taking Chinese medicine. The effect of sugar is related to the complexity of the ingredients of Chinese medicine.

In the formulation of traditional Chinese medicine, the taste of the medicine is different from that of "sour, bitter, sweet, pungent and salty", and the medicinal properties are also different from that of "cold, hot, warm and cool". Sugar also has certain medicinal properties and therapeutic effects. Sugar can moisten the lungs and harmonize the middle, nourish the spleen and relieve the liver. It can be used to treat dry cough, dry mouth and tongue, deficiency of the middle jiao, stomachache and other symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine also regards sugar as a traditional Chinese medicine and it should not be used casually. Therefore, there are also some taboos in the clinical use of sugar.

1. Eating too much sugar will increase heat. If the patient has symptoms of damp-heat retention such as abdominal distension, fullness, thick and greasy tongue coating, it is generally forbidden to add sugar to avoid affecting the efficacy of the medicine and aggravating the symptoms. It is also not suitable for those with phlegm.

2. Sugar consists of white sugar and brown sugar. White sugar is cool in nature, while brown sugar is warm in nature. If you add white sugar to warm medicines, or add brown sugar to cold medicines, the medicinal properties will be weakened, hindering the full play of the medicinal properties and affecting the efficacy.

3. The chemical composition of traditional Chinese medicine is relatively complex. Sugars, especially brown sugar, contain more chemical elements such as iron and calcium. Proteins, tannins and other components in traditional Chinese medicine can combine with them to produce chemical reactions, causing some effective ingredients in the medicine solution to coagulate and denature, and then produce turbidity and precipitation, which not only affects the efficacy of the medicine, but also endangers health.

So don't add sugar to traditional Chinese medicine. Adding sugar to traditional Chinese medicine will lose its original medicinal properties, affect the efficacy, and even produce harmful substances.

Of course, if you want Chinese medicine to taste less bitter, you still need to pay attention to the method.

Experience suggests that controlling the temperature of decoctions when taken orally can easily reduce the bitterness of Chinese medicine. Studies have shown that when decoctions are taken orally at a temperature of around 36.2°C, their bitterness will be reduced. Therefore, when we take decoctions, it is best to put the decocted Chinese medicine aside to cool for a few minutes, and wait until the temperature of the medicine drops to warm and not hot, because at this time the bitterness is the lightest and it is easier to swallow.

In addition, special utensils should be used to decoct Chinese medicine. It is best to use clay pots or sand pots because they have better chemical stability, are not easy to react chemically with the ingredients in the Chinese medicine, and have uniform heat conduction and good thermal insulation properties. Avoid using utensils made of oxidized substances, such as aluminum, iron, copper, etc.

The purpose of drinking Chinese medicine is to cure diseases and strengthen the body. If you really can't stand the bitter taste, you might as well try drinking it warm.

Finally, the old saying still applies: Good medicine tastes bitter but is good for the disease! Adding sugar to Chinese medicine does not make a herbal cola!

Author: The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

Wang Jianping