In 2011, I went to Guiyang with Sima Nan to record a TV program, and after the recording Sima Nan led me to a roadside stall for a late-night snack, and ordered a plate of cold fungus root, saying, “This is a local wild vegetable, very delicious, and it will be addictive to eat.” I took a bite out of curiosity, only to feel a strange grassy smell that I could not appreciate. Suddenly it occurred to me that this was the stem of the fishy herb used to make Chinese medicine, except that it was treated as a wild vegetable locally. Recently fishy grass has caught fire because the CCTV broadcast of the “tongue on China 2” has an episode introducing that a Sichuan sister in Guangdong for the month, Sichuan grandmother brought sun-dried fishy grass, using it to stew, is considered conducive to wound healing, the most suitable for maternal body recovery. Since fishy grass grows in yin and wet soil, according to the theory of phase production, Chinese medicine believes that fishy grass can diuretic and remove dampness, clear heat and detoxify the body, but I have not heard that it is also used for postpartum recovery, which is probably a folk invention. Modern researchers of Chinese medicine have also invented many new effects for fishy grass, including anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, weight loss, liver protection, scavenging free radicals, anti-allergy, immune system, etc. In short, modern people most want to cure any disease, fishy grass can cure any disease, almost a panacea for all diseases. But to prove these effects, only some very rudimentary in vitro experiments and animal experiments, and no human clinical trials to verify whether it really works, it is very suspicious. Fishy grass, food or poisonous herb? The reason for the peculiar fishy smell of fishy grass is that it contains volatile oil, the main component of which is known as ichthyotrope, also known by its chemical name, decanoylacetaldehyde. It is considered to be the active ingredient of fishy herb and is widely used domestically to treat respiratory infections, gynecological infections, skin infections and other infections. However, its therapeutic basis is, again, only some simple in vitro and animal experiments. It is not surprising if they have evolved natural antibacterial ingredients that can inhibit the growth of certain bacteria when doing in vitro experiments, but this is not the same as having antibacterial effects when eaten by humans. In fact, fisetin is insoluble in water, very unstable, easily oxidized, decomposition, decomposition products in vitro also can not inactivate bacteria. So even if the fishoin in the fishoin really has any effect, and so boiled into the soup, boiled into the soup, also early decomposition into ineffective other substances. The plant must resist the attack of bacteria and fungus, but also the devouring of animals. The fishy smell from fishy grass, I’m afraid, is used to repel animals, but some people like the smell instead. Plants are not created by God for human consumption or as medicine, but they often contain some harmful ingredients that are not good for animal health, some toxins are specially evolved to poison animals to protect themselves, and some toxins happen to be toxic to animals. Ichthyophagus contains a harmful component called aristolochia lactam. As I have described before, herbs in the Aristolochiaceae family contain a terrible class of substances called aristolochic acid that can cause irreversible damage to the kidneys and can lead to epithelial cancer of the upper urinary tract. Countless people have developed kidney failure and epithelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract from taking Aristolochia herbs. Aristolochic acid is metabolized in the body to aristolochic lactam, which in turn binds to DNA, damages kidney cells and induces cancer. Ichthyopodium is not in the Aristolochiaceae family and does not contain aristolochic acid, but it does contain aristolochic lactam, a metabolite of aristolochic acid. Experiments have shown that aristolactam can also cause damage to kidney cells and induce cancer, and its cytotoxicity is even stronger than aristolochic acid. Some people may say that talking about toxicity without talking about dose is a hooligan. There is a problem with the amount of aristolochic acid, as long as it is not eaten in large quantities, it is fine. Some toxins are indeed toxic only when they reach a certain amount, but if they do not reach that amount, the body can detoxify them without causing harm. However, some toxins have a cumulative effect, even if the amount consumed each time is very small, it can accumulate in the body, gradually causing harm to the body. Aristolochic acid and aristolactam are the latter toxins, which can cause irreversible damage to the body even if the amount ingested is extremely small. So there is no safe dose of aristolochic acid and aristolochic lactam, not as long as you don’t eat in large quantities, but to not eat if you can, eat feel fine is not really fine, in fact, the damage has been caused, but not yet manifested. The “China on the tongue 2” also introduced a kind of food called “fern root patties”. Unfortunately, fern also contains a harmful ingredient called euphorbia, which is a strong carcinogen that can cause esophageal and stomach cancer. The incidence of stomach cancer is much higher in areas where fern is a vegetable than elsewhere, and even in areas where fern is abundant, the incidence of esophageal and stomach cancer is higher even if fern is not eaten, because its carcinogens can enter drinking water, milk, etc. In addition to the fruit part, other parts of the plant are not “desired” by animals to eat, and therefore usually evolved to repel and poison animal components. Only a very small number of plants whose roots, stems and leaves happen to be suitable for human consumption, we find them tasty and treat them as vegetables, making them more and more tasty in the long-term cultivation process, in fact, unknowingly making them safer and safer. And for those plants that contain harmful substances, we will find them bitter and astringent, or have a strange taste. This is an instinct that humans have evolved. So it makes sense that most of us find wild vegetables unpalatable, it is instinct telling us not to touch such “natural” and “green” plants.