“The warmth of the Lantern Festival is still there, and the flowers of Valentine’s Day are still blooming. During New Year’s Eve, people tend to eat and drink a lot, and even overeat. Our medical expert and doctoral supervisor, Professor Li Peiwen, pointed out that after the New Year’s Eve, you should exclude grease and cleanse your stomach and intestines at the right time. Chrysanthemum, has the effectiveness of lowering blood lipids, but also has a smooth antihypertensive effect. In green tea mixed with a little chrysanthemum, a good cardiovascular health effects.
Chrysanthemum is the head of the perennial herb Chrysanthemum of the family Asteraceae. Chrysanthemum is a widely used plant, whether as food or for medicinal purposes. In Qu Yuan’s “Li Sao”, there is also a verse that reads, “Drinking the falling dew of magnolia in the morning and dining on the falling dew of chrysanthemum in the evening”. Chrysanthemum has a history of more than 3,000 years in China, and is one of the six most famous flowers in China, with 10,000 varieties all over the country. White chrysanthemums and yellow chrysanthemums are common, and by origin, such as Bo chrysanthemums in Anhui, Chu chrysanthemums, Hang chrysanthemums in Zhejiang, Sichuan chrysanthemums, and Huai chrysanthemums in Henan are famous.
Chrysanthemum is pungent, sweet and bitter in taste, slightly cold, and belongs to the liver and lung meridian. It has the function of clearing the liver and eyes, detoxifying heat and clearing wind and orifices. It is used for wind-heat colds, the beginning of plague, headache and redness of the eyes, dizziness, dizziness and bitterness of the mouth and sores of the tongue caused by liver fire. The treatise on medicinal properties says that chrysanthemum “treats wind-heat in the head and eyes, wind dizziness and falling to the ground”, and the Ben Jing says: “Maintains the head dizziness, swelling and pain of all winds”.
The “Compendium of Materia Medica” says “treats head wind, brightens the ears and eyes, removes impotence and paralysis, and eliminates all diseases”. The “Justice of the Materia Medica” says that “it is clear and bitter, and can take in deficient yang and return it to the lower part of the body, so it is an important medicine for the eyes”. There are many Chinese patent medicines made from chrysanthemum, such as Qiju Dihuang Pill, Bright Eyes Night Light Pill, Chrysanthemum Powder, Mulberry Chrysanthemum Drink and so on. The yellow chrysanthemum is mostly used for external wind-heat, and the white chrysanthemum is mostly used for clearing liver and brightening eyes.
A simple formula based on chrysanthemum can relieve a variety of symptoms, for example, a decoction of chrysanthemum with cereal grass can treat wind-heat headache and conjunctivitis. A decoction of Chrysanthemum with Ligustrum is effective in treating vertigo. Chrysanthemum with Radix Bupleurum is effective in relieving swelling and pain in the liver area. Chrysanthemum, Fatty Sea and Medlar in water as tea substitute is effective for dry mouth and mouth ulcers caused by radiation treatment of head and neck.
Modern medical research chrysanthemum contains choline, amino acids, vitamins and volatile oil components, with anti-bacterial, anti-influenza virus, antifungal and other roles, so tonsillitis, pharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infections can be chrysanthemum oral or containing wee. Animal experiments have proved that chrysanthemum also has the effect of dilating the coronary arteries of the heart muscle and lowering hypertension, which has a relieving effect on the headache, dizziness and chest tightness caused by vasospasm in patients with cardiovascular disease.
The use of chrysanthemum to benefit longevity has been used for ages. The poem “Chrysanthemum Stone” of the Qing Dynasty has the verse “Nanyang chrysanthemum water is much stored old, this is a kind of flower to prolong longevity”. Therefore, there is the custom of “chrysanthemum tasting” and “chrysanthemum dew” for many years. Modern research on chrysanthemum ethyl acetate and other antioxidant effects, can scavenge harmful free radicals.
Gavage with chrysanthemum water can enhance the activity of glutathione peroxidase in the blood of mice, which is related to delaying aging. Wild chrysanthemum has a small poison, but also the whole herb can be used as a medicine, often used externally to treat skin diseases. Wild chrysanthemum also has the effect of softening and dispersing knots, and the Chinese medicine for breast cancer, liver cancer and lung cancer often uses wild chrysanthemum in combination, which is beneficial to stabilize the tumor and prolong life.
Chrysanthemum can be used for food therapy, such as chrysanthemum tea, chrysanthemum essence, chrysanthemum wine, chrysanthemum dew, etc. Chrysanthemum tea is mostly a single-flavor chrysanthemum tea, which should not be called “tea”.
Finally, we recommend chrysanthemum to do the following examples of therapeutic meals throat clearing and moistening formula: for sore throat, mouth sores and mute. 5 grams of chrysanthemum, 5 grams of dried shot, 5 grams of fat sea. Soak in boiling water, drink and cough with water.
Clearing heat and detoxifying formula: for wind-heat colds, headache and thirst. Chrysanthemum 5 grams, mulberry leaf 5 grams, dahurica 3 grams, boil water and drink as tea.
Clearing fire from liver: for elevated blood pressure, headache, red eyes and irritability caused by inflammation of liver. 5 grams of chrysanthemum, 10 grams of lotus leaf and 5 grams of puffball. First 20 grams of pistachio peeled, soaked for 6 hours and then boiled, add the first three herbs slow cooked for 15 minutes, strain the solid ingredients, add the right amount of rock sugar, and drink.
Although chrysanthemum is said to be “a pillow to brighten the eyes” and “a real chrysanthemum to prolong aging”, but after all, it is bitter and cold in nature, and drinking chrysanthemum tea on an empty stomach can cause stomach discomfort. The external wind-cold cold, that is, cold wind headache, chill, runny application of chrysanthemum is also not the right symptoms.