Tao Ren (Persicae Semen)

This episode covers the useful Chinese herb Tao Ren or Persicae Semen. This herb is used in Chinese medicine to regulate or “move” the blood which can be used in a wide variety of conditions including menstrual disorders, traumatic injuries, and different types of pain. –Plus, as a seed, it can moisten the intestines and unblock the bowels Each episode of the podcast will go into great depth about a single herb or formula. Besides covering the basics of herbology including category, and functions, we will explore the history, quality, science, pharmacology, evidence, and any potential interactions of each herb. And then there is always something a little quirky about an episode. This episode continues our exploration of Chinese pulses with the very important wiry pulse. Please join us as we discover the known and hidden aspects of Tao Ren or Persicae Semen.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
That angelic sperverb. Today we will be exploring a relatively
commonly used and important Chinese orb, dal ren or peach kernel.
The serve is used in Chinese medicine to regulate or
move the blood, which can be used in a wide
variety of conditions, including mental disorders, traumatic injuries, and different

(00:27):
types of pain. Plus, as a seed, it can moisten
the intestines and unblock the bowels. And as usual, we
will be exploring something a little different. We're going to
continue our discussion of the wiry pulse. Please join us
for this interesting and useful episode. Before we get into that,

(00:48):
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(02:39):
the Chinese pulse for a little while, now getting into
some specific pulses. In episode sixty five, we introduced both
the slippery and wiry pulse. Since that was a very important,
very big herb Fooling, We're not able to get too
much in depth in these two commonly felt pulses. Like
to correct that going depth into the wiry pulse in
this episode after tackling the slippery pulse in the last episode. Well,

(03:03):
we will reiterate what we learned in the fooling episode
and then go deeper into how to feel and what
the wiry pulse means. The wirey or Schian pulse, also
known as stringy or bowstring pulse, feels taught like a
guitar string. It is thinner, more taut, and harder than

(03:25):
the tight pulse. The wiry pulse really hits the finger.
And it's all quotes from Matchiocha, who is just one
of the main authors of the main He's written several
many of the major textbooks that we study in China's
medical skull. One of my mentors that should hit all

(03:48):
three pulse taking fingers at the same time. He can
indicate several conditions, including liver disharmony, pain, and phlegm flaws,
which you know I've talked about previously, But Bob Flaws
is actually contributed to my book I Integrated Pharmacology. I
know him. He's a he's a great guy, very knowledgeable.

(04:11):
He wrote a book called the Secrets of Chinese Pulses
or something along those lines. It's in the bibliography and
that's where we we I take some of this from
as well. So he says the wire or bowstring pulses fine, long,
has strength, feels like a zither string. If you're not

(04:31):
familiar with that, that's almost like a it's it's a strummed instrument,
sort of like a guitar, but not exactly. There are
two pulse images which words fail to adequately define and
which must be pointing out to the student in a
living person. These are the bowstring pulse and the slippery pulse.

(04:53):
Although the bowstring pulse is described as being long and fine,
the fact that it feels like pressing on a fine
guitar or violin string is its clearest verbal description. When
one feels this pulse, one does get a sense of
its longitudinal dimension, rather than its wrist it's width rather

(05:17):
than its width. Thus it is said to be long. However,
it should not be confused with the long pulse. Likewise,
it is said to be fine. However, it should not
be confused with the fine pulse. It is fine specifically
in comparison with another of the main pulse images, the

(05:39):
tight pulse. The bullshring pulse is forceful and taut or tense.
One can clearly feel its crisp and distinct edges. Sometimes,
this bullshrink quality only reveals itself when one changes pressure
or rolls one's fingers slightly up and down the pulse.

(06:02):
In other words, it is not always immediately perceptible quality
when present, but sometimes must be searched. And particularly the
bushing pulse tends to reveal itself when one slightly lets
up on the pressure. The boshering pulse is an extremely
common pulse image, and therefore there are no lack of

(06:23):
models with this pulse. Once it is pointed out and
felt for oneself, is like sugar in one's mouth. That
time forward, one immediately knows what a bowstring pulse is like.
He continues later on in the book, the bull string
pulse is a tense constricted constrained pulse. It occurs when

(06:46):
the she is not able to flow without constraint. There
are two basic mechanisms associated with inhibited and non freely
flowing cheap. The first is due to the viscera, whose
job it is to maintain the free and inhibited flow
of chi, and the first of these viscera is the liver.
The liver controls coursing and discharging. If stress, frustration, resentment,

(07:12):
and anger cause the liver to lose command over coursing
and discharging, the she may not spread freely, thus giving
rise to constraint and a bowstring pulse. However, for the
liver to function, it must receive adequate blood to nourish, emoliate,
and harmonize it. This means that blood vacuity may also

(07:34):
result in the liver's loss of command over coursing and discharging. Secondly,
the spleen is the root of chi and blood engenderment
and transformation. If due to faulty diet, over taxation, or
excessive thinking and worry, the sleen becomes weak, it may

(07:56):
not engender sufficient che to empower movement. Remembering that it
is the chi which moves the blood Likewise, it may
not gender sufficient blood to nourish the liver. Therefore swen
chieve acuity, cause or contribute to chiese stagnation. And third,
it is the warmth of the lifegate fire which warms

(08:18):
and empowers the liver. If kidney young becomes vacuous, this
may also indirectly result in or aggravate liver depression cheese stagnation.
So the life gate fire ming men is a very
interesting concept in Chinese medicine. It's where they say, our
young kind of resides and the heat of the body

(08:40):
comes forth. So it's say, it's an interesting Chinese concept,
But there you go. That's that's what that's referring to.
The second basic cause of lack of free and inhibitive
flow is due to yin obstruction. If for any reason, damnness, flem, food,

(09:01):
or blood becomes static and stagnant, this will hinder and
obstruct the free flow of chi. Therefore, the presence of
any of these so called depressions can also result in
a bowstring pulse. So there you go. That's our our
A little bit more in depth discussion of the y
ray pulse. Uh and and with that for their discussion

(09:23):
let's get into today's herb. Today we're talking about dal
ren or peach colonel. This is in the Roseatia, a
rose family. The species is Prunas persica L batsch bash
B A, T S C. H. Again, the L and
the bash refer to the biologists who classify this this

(09:46):
this uh, this tree, and that's called doo. So that's
where doo comes from. Or sometimes you might see it
as Prunas Daviddianna car franch, and that's called sean Tao
sean tao that is less common use and is not
considered as as effective or as strong as as Prunus persica.

(10:12):
The medicinal part that we're talking about here is the
pit or colonel. Actually, I found lots of medicinal uses
of various parts of the of the peach tree, you know,
the leaves, the bark, the fruit, all of that. But
right now with this this Chinese or, we're just talking
about the pit or kernel, and that's actually what dal
ren means. The English translation is either is peach pit

(10:33):
or seed. Ren means seed uh. So that's that. Other
names include Persica Bien doubt, Tauran Da, taurann Wa taou
in in Jiangshi, which is a province mal Taururan Talha.
The we're gonna find out the oldest mention of this

(10:54):
is in the Shandong ben Saljinga The Divine Farmers Material Medica,
and they actually referred to it as how Ha and
Japanese is tonine and Crean is going Benski. So remember
we have three major texts that we eat, and I'm
adding a whole bunch of other texts with this one
as well. But Benski and their Team is one of

(11:16):
our major texts. They say the dosa is just three
to nine grams. Chen and Chen, one of our other textbooks,
say the dose is six to ten grams, and Brandon Wiseman,
our third major textbook, say it is five to fifteen grams.
So anywhere from three to fifteen grams seems to be
the range here with everyone. Kind of six to nine

(11:38):
or ten is probably the most commonly used. Talk a
bit about the Rosesha family before we get into more
about this specific herb. The Roseesha rose family is a
medium sized family of herbs, shrubs and trees, and the
order of Rosales, comprising four thousand, eight hundred twenty eight

(12:00):
species in ninety one genera. Many edible fruits are in
this family, including apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries,
low quats, one of my favorite fruits, strawberries, rose hips, hawthorns,
and almonds, as well as many ornamental trees and shrubs.

(12:22):
Most are deciduous, though some are evergreen. While they are
present worldwide, they are particularly diverse in the northern hemisphere. Okay,
so back to our herb of the day, dal rene
peach kernel. The category for this is interesting. So usually

(12:43):
when we look at the three texts, there might be
some slight language differences between those three texts, but in
general they're in agreement, you know, as to what this is.
In this case is a little different. So Benski and
his team put this herb in the herbs that invigorate
the blood subcategory under the herbs that regulate the blood category.

(13:04):
So invigorate the blood, regulate the blood to me are
very synonymous. But there are other subcategories under regulate the
blood category which are are not. And so that's that's
an interesting distinction. Shends say. It is in the blood
invigorating and stasis removing herbs category, so they just have
a category that's called blood invigorating and stasis removing herbs

(13:26):
does not have any subcategories to that at all, so
that's an interesting one. Again not that far from Benski,
but less hierarchical. I Guess and Brandon Wiseman say it
is in the blood quickening Mensis mensis regulating medicinal subcategory,
so again they're adding in Mensis uh regulating, which is

(13:49):
interesting that that is a totally different sort of subcategory
UH and the and they put it in the blood
quickening stasis Transforming Medicinals category, so it's in the subcategory
of blood cuny Mensi's regulating medicinals under the category of
blood quickening stasis Transforming Medicinals. So interesting combinations again in

(14:10):
the ballpark of each other, but some interesting distinctions between
our three textbooks. Benski and his team say it is
bitter and sweet and has a neutral temperature and enters
the heart, large, intestine, liver, and lung channels. Brandon Wiseman agrees,

(14:30):
but adds it is slightly toxic, which we are going
to get into in today's episode. While Chen and Chen
does not include the sweet taste, so that's an interesting one,
nor does it. It talks about toxicity, but not as
part and not as a toxic herb. His story of this,
Both Benski and his team and Chen and Chen say

(14:52):
the original source for this herb is the Shennan Ben
sau Jing or Divine Husbandsman's Classic of the Matiwo America
in the second century CE. So remember the s Senanang
Ben sau Jing is the oldest existing book on individual
herbs in Chinese thinking. I'm not going to say outside

(15:13):
of Chinese, but in the Chinese that's what we have.
So it basically means this is an old herb in
Chinese medicine. Let's talk about that herbs that invigorate the
blood category that we have under Benski. Beski has great
commentary over these categories, so this appears to be our
first herb. From the herbs that invigorate the blood category.

(15:35):
We have covered formulas from this category, but not an
individual herb. So according to Benski and his team, herbs
that are used to facilitate the flow of blood in
the vessels, augment its movement, and reduce areas of blood
stasis are said to invigorate the blood or oh shwe
o shwe shwe is blood what it means to invigorate.

(15:57):
When the flow of blood has been slowed or becomes static,
it can lead to many types of problems. General. Herbs
that invigorate the blood are acrid, bitter, and warm, which
is interesting because this herb is not accurate and it's
not warm. It is bitter though okay. Accredity disperses what

(16:19):
is static and promotes movement through areas of stagnation. Bitterness
facilitates the flow in general and downward flow in particular.
Warmth not only increases movement but can also facilitate flow
through the vessels. Herbs that invigorate the blood are therefore
very mobilizing in nature and should be used with caution

(16:39):
in those who are pregnant or have a tendency to bleed,
either constitutional or as a result of other treatments such
as taking blood thinning medication. Herbs that invigorate the blood
are widely used in contemporary Chinese medicine, both in areas
of specialty and for a wide variety of disorders. They

(17:01):
are particularly useful for problems marked by the following signs
and symptoms. Pain general or localized. When local the pain
is usually stabbing. Clearly localized, does not move about. That
is what we would refer to as blood stagnant pain, numbness,
and pashegis of the of the limbs. Para sieges is
that tingling sensation when you have a limb, you know,

(17:24):
like when it's when it's cut off circulation and you
have the ants crawling sort of feeling. Those are called
Parishesias are the presence of masses or lumps, either internally
or near the surface of the body. Mass is due
to bleeding, including those associated with trauma, bleeding of any
kind where the blood is dark purple and accompanied by

(17:44):
clots dark purple stasis, spots on the skin, mucous membranes,
or tom Associated disorders include amin rhea or not not
having immensies, abnormal uterine bleeding, postpartum abdominal pain, chest painful obstruction,

(18:04):
hypochondrial pain, pain due to wind, damp, painful obstruction, abscesses
and other types of sores, abdominal masses, traumatic pain, including
that due to fractures, and the pain of tumors. Blood
Stasis can occur for many reasons, including externally contracted wind, cold,

(18:25):
or wind damness, the drying and congeliing actions of warm
pathogen diseases, obstruction due to damness, and phlegm and trauma.
Irrespective of the reason, the underlying ideology must be addressed
along with the blood stasis. In this way, blood stasis

(18:46):
is similar to phlem in that it is a secondary
pathogenic influence. In other words, treatment must address not only
the stasis but the primary agent that led to its formation. Similarly,
because of the interdependent relationlationship between blood and chi, when
one desires to invigorate the blood, it is often helpful
to simultaneously promote the movement of chi. The four major

(19:10):
categories of blood invigorating herbs in as sending order of
strength are those that harmonize the blood hey hu shwe
promote the movement of blood shing shwe, the spell blood
stasis chew you, and the harsher ones that break up
blood stasis pull you. In this text, the term invigorate

(19:32):
the blood is general in nature, is not specific to
any particular strength or function. The categories of blood invigorating
herbs are themselves wide ranging and relative, and should not
be taken too literally. Let's talk about good quality tauran

(19:54):
Benski and his team say good quality consists of a large,
flat but full enclosed seeds with white and oily kernels.
In Chinese medicinal identification and illustrated approach, this is a
great book that talks about quality of herbs. Jao and
Chen say, superior medicinal materials reddish brown in color, and

(20:15):
the pieces are consistent, full and firm. They have a flat,
long oval shape and are yellowish brown to reddish brown
in color with a thin seed coat. Two off white
cutaledons that are oily. So cutledons are and embryonic leaf
and seed bearing plants, which this one is one or

(20:36):
more which are the first leaves to appear from a
germinating seed. So when Bensky says white and oily kernels,
they're saying without the skin on, we're gonna see. That's
an important distinction. This description from Gen and Jao and
Chen do talk about the skin being on. That's the

(20:56):
yellowsh brown to reddish brown in color. The odor is faint,
and this back to Jah and Chin, the order is
faint and the taste is slightly bitter. They add for decoction,
the skin is removed, leaving just the cutalodons. So there
you go. Okay, what does it do Chinese medical actions?

(21:18):
According to Benski and his team, dal Ren breaks up
blood stasis is an important herb used and resolving many
kinds of problems associated with blood stations, including mental disorders,
abdominal pain, traumatic injury, blank pain, lung abscess, and intestinal
abscess with fixed abdominal mass. It also moistens the intestines

(21:39):
and unblocks the bowels for constipation due to dry intestines.
This is what most seeds do, sort of added on
to most seeds because of the oil oil content of
the seeds. It moistens the intestine, un blocks the bowels,
very common. Chen and Chen say it activates blood circulation,
removes blood stasis. It also drains abscesses as well as

(22:00):
moistens the intestines and relieves constipations. Again very similar. Brand
and Wiseman, again very similar, say it quickens the blood
and transforms stasis, moistens the intestines, and freeze the stool.
Jao and Chen say it invigorates the blood to spelled stasis,
moistens the intestines, and freese the stool. Now you might

(22:22):
say freeze the stools. What Brandon Wiseman said and freeze
the tools with jo and Chen says, well, what's very
interesting is Eric Brand of the brand and Wiseman was
also one of the editors on Jao and Chen's book,
so it makes sense that some of the language is
going to be similar between those two books. And then
we finally we have that shit. I've been sudging the

(22:42):
Divine Farmer's material in Medica and they say it is
bitter and balanced. It mainly treats blood stasis, blood block conglomerations,
and the evil chi. It kills small worms, So that's
an interesting one. A noe to this entry, says Darren relaxes.
The liver generates new blood and drains stagnant blood. That's

(23:07):
an interesting thing because this draining of sagment blood we're
going to see come up with some of the comparisons
with other herbs. And that's actually an important aspect of
this is that this kind of drains stagnant blood downward
and it's because of that bitter taste. Remember we said
the bitter test is flow and flow downward, and so
this is definitely a bit of a downward flowing herb.

(23:31):
There are several preparations of this herb. And they are
listening to Benski's and his team's book, and here's a
quote from them. The fruit is harvested in autumn when
it is mature and the kernels are full and solid.
The kernels of the summer fruit are too small to use.
The flesh of the fruit is removed and the seed's collected,

(23:53):
from which the kernels are extracted by striking the side
of each seed until it splits. This is called clean
peach kernel or jing Taaluran. Recedure is mechanized in large
scale production. Peach kernels are also known as dalha ren,
stripped peach kernel or guang tauran. In some place, the

(24:16):
outer coat is not removed, but when they are the
cleaned peach kernels are boiled in water for ten minutes
until the seed coat wrinkles, then placed in cold water
in the seed coat is rubbed off. They are then
dried in the sun, and any blackened kernels or extraneous
material is removed. Transforming the significance of medicinal substances or

(24:38):
the Yaopin Huaye, written in sixteen forty four, explains the
traditional view of this procedure. If used without removing the
seed coat in large doses. It then travels the liver
channel and primarily breaks down the build up of blood,
drives out menstrual blood treats pain all over the body, numb, painful,
obstruction of the four limbs, and hemaplesia. The views with

(25:01):
the coat removed in small doses and pulverized and then
enters the small intestine treats blood, dryness, constipation, and difficult
stool because it moistens, cools and harmonizes the blood and
has the power to open clumps and unblocked stagnation. The
kernels are ground into a paste before using. They are

(25:23):
called peach kernel paste or dow rent knee are broken
up peach kernel's hot po tauren, and this method facilitates decoction.
We have dry fried peach colonel or chow tauuren. The
peach kernels are dry fried until yellow. Dry frying strengthens

(25:43):
their ability to break up leod stasis. There's also the
view that it increases the moistening quality of the kernels.
Seeking accuracy in the material medica are the bensu chio Jen,
written in seventeen seventy three, advises to moistened dryness, remove
the tip and seed coat, then dry fry. There's also

(26:05):
defatted peach kernel. Literally the English translation of this is
peach kernel frost or tau rend schwang. Clean peach kernels
are wrapped in oil absorbent paper and then pressed. The
paper is replaced, the process repeating until no more oil
can be expressed. This defatting process completely eliminates the intestinal

(26:28):
moistening effect without reducing its ability to invigorate the blood
and dispel stasis. It is appropriate for blood sagnation of
patients who with loose stools due to spleen deficiency. Continuing
with preparation, chense del rend seeds should be crushed prior
to decoction. The unprocessed herb has a strong effect to

(26:50):
move the blood and eliminate blood stasis. The dry fried
herb has a strong effect of moist and dryness entry constipation.
Brandon Wiseman say that usual processing boiling to remove the
skin reduces toxicity. Without further processing, it is stronger for
quickening the blood and dispelling stasis. Stirfrying moderates its blood

(27:12):
quickening in action, so the stfry form tends to be
used to moisten the intestines and harmonize the blood. In
either case, daluren should be crushed before decoction. So similar
thoughts between the different books, different ways of expressing it.
Western uses. It appears peach pits are used medicinally in

(27:33):
many Western ribal traditions. Wood describes the use of various
parts of the peach tree for several conditions, including a
tincture of peach pits and brandy to help baldness. Another
article discusses peach pit tree e excuse me, peach pit
tea is an effective folk remedy for drying out poisons

(27:55):
and killing infections. As well as warm peach pit tea
is excellent for puling infection out of mouth sores and
speeding the healing process, and infected sores can also be
remedied with this powerful pit when the tea is applied
as a compress. The PDR for Herbal Medicines does not

(28:15):
mention the SERB, which is a big giant book on
Western medicines herbals. Let's talk about some commentary again. Benski
has some great commentary on theseserves and this is from
him as well. I say Benski and his team has,

(28:35):
as usual, has an excellent commentary on the serb bitter
and thust straining, heavy in weight and thus sinking and
downward directing and moist and texture. Range of action of
persicosmen or dal ren teal ren I should say, is
determined by the channels it enters heart, liver, long and
large intestine. Its affiliation with the heart and liver indicates

(28:57):
its action on the blood, but also moist since the
intestines that are dry to relieve constipation, stops cough and wheezing,
and moistens the skin, all of which relate to the
large intestine and lung. While it is generally conceded by
most material medica texts that is almost wholly attacking in
nature breaking up blood stasis, its status as a fruit

(29:19):
kernel implies some life giving generative force as well. In Tehran,
this is expressed as the ability to assist in the
generation of new blood following the expulsion of old stagnant blood.
In some cases, too, its effect in the treatment of
wind painful obstruction is noted. This effect is based on

(29:40):
the restoration of normal blood movement, which both eliminates pathogenic
wind and begins to supply nourishment to those areas that
were damaged by the pathogenic occupation. The primary action of
the herb is on the blood, as indicating the divine
Husbandsman's classical the material of medica. That's the Shannow benzil
Jing talking about where it says governs stagnant blood, amin arehea,

(30:03):
mobile and fixed abdominal masses, pathogenic chi, and the killing
of small parasites. The term pathogenic chi is clossed by
some as referring to abdominal masses, but most other writers
agree that it refers to infestatious disease, jew being a

(30:25):
wide category of contagious and demonic illness. According to records
of thoughtful differentiation of material Medica the ben South Sibian
Lou written in nineteen oh four, this is because the
peach tree is the tree of the West and contains
the essence of the five trees. But whether the classical
material medica is here referring to evil demonic CHI when

(30:49):
it uses the two characters pathogenic chi, there's no way
to know. Miscellaneous records of famous physicians. The Meghi Jelu
circle of five hundred CE states that it stops cough
and upward. Rebellious chi reduces hardness in the area below
the heart, eliminates sudden violent hemorrhage, breaks up mobile and

(31:13):
fixed abdominal masses, unblocked vessels, and stops pain. Material America
of Combinations of the pay Bensu seventeen sixty one adds
that it treats blood clumping, blood build up, blood stagnation,
and wind painful obstruction. Regarding its effect on the large intestine,

(31:38):
transforming the significance of medicinal substances or the yaopain Ye,
written in sixteen sixty four, says that it is moist
in texture, it can rich intestinal dryness entering the large intestine.
It treats parched blood causing blocked stool and dry blood
causing difficult stool. The detailed material medicare The Bensau shiang

(32:02):
Jay in sixteen eighty one observes bitter, sweet, and neutral.
It sinks and directs downward yng within yin. The bitterness
of dal ren drains stagnant blood, and its sweetness generates
new blood. It has four uses to treat heat entering
the blood chamber, to drain stagnant blood in the abdomen,

(32:25):
to expel blood, heat, dryness and itching in the skin,
and promote to promote the movement of jill blood stasis
in the skin. Records of thoughtful Differentiation of material Medica
explains these references to skin. Peaches have a fuzzy skin
and are a lung fruit. The kernels primarily attack stagnant

(32:46):
blood in our liver herb, but it also dredges stasis
of the skin ristices and pores. And that's our commentary
on this herb for today. Let's compare it to a
couple other herbs benski actually only one other Benski compares

(33:08):
it with one other which is carthami floss or hon hua.
This is safflower is what this is. Both herbs dispel
stasis and unblocked menstruation, invigorate the blood and stop pain.
How are kathami floss? Hon Hua is light in weight
so that it floats and travels in the exterior and

(33:29):
upper body, and an overly high doses can raise the
blood excessively into the head. By contrast, person Cassimo in
Dahurent is heavy such that it sinks and directs downward,
attacking blood stagnation in the lower body and the interior
while also moistening the intestines to treat constipation and stops

(33:49):
coughs and wheezing combinations. Benski also and his team also
includes carthamily floss is a combination with dal renn as
well as they frequently mentioned herb arminiassier semen or shing ren.
We see that a lot that is a hogua is

(34:10):
a blood moving herb just like like dal ren is
ching ren is for uh for phlegm, especially in the lungs,
so very different. But it's still a Semen means seed,
so it's still seed and it has the ren portion
which means seeds. So dal ren chingrin okay. So let's
talk about with using dal ren with karthami floss. This

(34:34):
is an extremely common combination for invigorating the blood. Does
both herbs strongly promote the flow of blood the spell
stasis and enter the channels of the two major blood organs,
the heart and liver. It is often used for all
types of blood stagnation, for example, dysmenoria and amen area.
In gynecology, dysmandary means painful men seeds and amenory is

(34:57):
is not having a mensis woolen painful sores in external
medicine and pain in the chest and abdomen and internal medicine.
When blood stas this is severe, the docas must be
rather large, nine to twelve grams each, whereas to regulate
and harmonize blood flow, smaller dose is appropriate three to
six grams. So our combination with arminossier it's even our chingren.

(35:25):
This is both are fruit kernels with which moisten the intestines,
but the focus of treatment for armainossier seem as ching
ren is the upper body. For taururan the lower body.
This provides a remarkable trickle down effect which first facilitates
peristalsis above by directing the lung cheek downward, and then

(35:46):
continues in the lower body through the moistening blood invigorating
action of taaluren on the large intestine. This combination works
best when constipation is caused by lung cheek constraint, when
the lungs fail to provide normal rhythmic descent to guide
the large intestine chog being. Chung notes that while these

(36:09):
kernels are similar in nature, one moves into the liver
channel at the blood level, the other moves into the
lung channel at the chi level. Thus, the pair addresses
movement of both the chi and blood because the flow
of cheese supports the movement of blood. This combination can
be used when blood stasis leads to pain in the chest,
abdomen or throughout the body. While the knowledge that armaannossier

(36:32):
sieman ching ren enters the lungs and calms wheezing as commonplace,
the fact that tau ren also possesses this action is
less well known. Yeah one of the earliest discussions of
material medica, the Miscellaneous Records of Famous physicians, records that
tauuren can alleviate cough and direct rebellious chi downward. Thus
the pair is also effective for wheezing and cough due

(36:55):
to lung chi constraint. So that is our combinations. Today,
let's talk about contents. According to Benski and his team,
the contents of this herb include glycosides, is specifically among them,
migdalen and prunisine. Migdalin is the constituent of most concerned

(37:18):
when it comes to toxicity. It can be a precursor
for HCN hydro cyanic acid or cyanide, which is a
potent poison. It is also considered to be important to
many of the clinically beneficial effects of this cerb. They
actually think that amygdalin is actually what causes a lot

(37:38):
of the is considered one of the most important constituents
that has been benefit. So it can be transferred into
poison or it could be a benefit which frankly, if
you know a lot about medicine, you realize that a
lot of our medicines are, depending on dose, are poisons
as well. You know how many snake venoms have been

(38:00):
studied these days and have really potent uses as as
medicinal drugs. But obviously if you if you get the
raw form and high doses, it'll kill you. So I'm
similar here with the amignalant. It also includes fixed oils
and volatile oils, labinoids which we have talked about previously,

(38:22):
which are very commonly used in herbs and are often
part of the the the active ingredients. There's also tried triturpenes,
including beta sitosterol. We've talked about beta citosterol relatively frequently
on superbserbs uh and is in a lot of herbs
and and and supports a lot of beneficial actions of

(38:46):
the herbs. Other constituents include amino acids, sugars, and emulson.
All right, let's get into the science of this. According
to Chin and Chad, several beneficial effects have been shown
in animal studies including prombi or blood clot prevention and treatment,

(39:06):
anti inflammation and titus media, so lowering inflammation intitus media
which is a middle ear infection, and anti allergic ant
tests of anti cough and anti parasitic activity. So they
also include two clinical studies. So these are the ones
that I'm more interested in, the clinical studies rather than

(39:27):
animal studies, because it shows something in an animal study
that doesn't actually occur in humans, So those are not
considered very clinically strong. But there were two clinical studies,
and I'm the infusion of dwrench showed benefit in trating
just to cirrhosis, though no numbers were included. So just so,

(39:48):
cirrhosis is cirrhosis is is a scarring of the liver,
and it's just asomal refers to schist miasis, which is
is an infection of the liver. So probably not super
huge concern in most developed countries. And again we you

(40:10):
know in most places that I'm aware of, you can't
do an fusion of an RB anyways. So and then
the second it was an injection of dow rend mixed
with other herbs, was beneficial in treating angitis, which is
inflammation of the arteries. This had an end of fifty,
so relatively small, just a little bit above statistically valid

(40:31):
again injection, and also it was with other herbs, so
I take it with a grain of salt. So at
least there there wasn't a lot supporting its clinical use.
But there was a review of studies on peach kernels
by Kamari and their team recent twenty twenty three state's
evidence showing benefit for anti aging, anti biofilm properties, protection

(40:55):
against oxidative stress, cancer, cell proliferation, inhibition of type two diabetes,
Alzheimer's disease, and obesity. So again I don't think that
was super strong in and of itself. A lot of
the Chinese irves, even the very important Chinese irves, just
don't have a lot of evidence, at least in the West.

(41:18):
You know, there might be a lot more science behind
the language, the Chinese language, but we can certainly do
stand here for some more science here with this particular
herb drug. Rib interactions. So several studies have looked at
drug rib interactions in dal pren. One study looked at

(41:42):
its potential for cytochrone p. Four fifty three A four
interactions and found none. So remember cytochroone p. Four fifty
is a major target of drug rib interaction risks, and
three or four is the one that we're particularly worried
about because anywhere fro about forty to sixty percent of
drugs will use sarcroone p four fifty three or four
from so something's interfering with that you have a drug

(42:03):
or interaction. So the fact that it does not interfere
with Stark Company for fifty threey four is great. Another
study looked at interactions with warfar in and found a
single case report which illustrated a fifty four year old
woman unstable warfare in an INR of two point zero
to two point five. That's just a measurement of cladding

(42:24):
of the blood who experienced an isolated episode of n
R at five point five related to daily consumption of
peach kernel. The challenge of peach kernel with original warfare
in dose resulted in normalization of INR to two point one.
So de challenge. Here, it means they stopped the peach
kernel continue with the warf, and it went back to

(42:45):
where they wanted it to be. So that's considered sea level.
D level is the worst. A level is the best
of evidence sea level is. To get to sea level,
it has to be in humans at some level. That's
what we have here is a single case say so
barely evidence just with a single case study, but at
least it was human, so definitely better than D level,

(43:05):
which is either expert opinion, animal studies or in vitro studies.
So chen Chen continues with Drugger of interactions. And if
you're not familar with Chen Chen, it's a brother and
his sister, John Chen is the is the brother of
teen Sheen's sister. John Chen is actually a pharmacist and

(43:26):
is quite well known in our field for Drugger interaction knowledge.
And so what he says take with a little bit
of you know, a little bit stronger to listen to.
So chan Chen say, Darwin should be used with caution
and patients receiving anti quaglant or anti platelet medications, as
the combination we lead to additive or synergistic effects. Though

(43:49):
this interaction has not been documented. The use of Dowren
may potentiate the effect of drugs such as warf and
Well did find some documentation for that, and again that
may be more recent than then this book was written.
Examples of antiquagulants include heparin, warfrin or kumidin, doxiparin or lebonox.

(44:09):
And examples of anti playlets include aspirin, dip britamol, per
santhine for santine and chloe, pedigirl or plavix. Again, this
is an expert opinion level D, but it kind of
supports the level C evidence we have the warfrin. At least.
Having said all that with Drugger of interactions. The American
Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook, which is a great

(44:32):
book with a lot of herbs, which and it classifies
the herbs potential interactions, says darren is in interaction Class A.
It's highest level, which says herbs for which no clinically
relevant interactions are expected. So look, I don't personally, I

(44:53):
do not combine herbs with warfrin, even though I consider
myself an expert in Drugger of interactions. It's just Warfrin
is at high risk for drugger of interactions. I just
don't do it, mostly because if something were to go wrong,
I don't really have a defense. It's like it's one
of those drugs that every act I've done this, I've
had two hundred people in a hall. I'm about to

(45:14):
talk about drugger of interactions, And I said, what's the
one drug you never combined with herbs? And everyone just said,
come it in And I said, right, Warfarin. Don't say
komen in. Kuman is a brand name. Warfrin is a
generic name, and the reason why you don't use a
brand name is because a generic drug can have many
brand names, and there are other brand names of Warfrin,

(45:34):
so prefer to use Warfrin. But they were right, this
is the one thing, the only erb I heard, the
only drug I heard. Everyone knew it in that room.
So you don't generally combine. I don't feel medical legally
you should combine herbs with warfare, even though more times
than not it's going to be perfectly fine even in
these higher risk drugs. So having said that, I'd be

(45:55):
a little concerned with warfare, and I wouldn't be majorly
concerned about drugger of interactions with dalren and other drugs concerns.
So let's talk about some concerns about this or Benski
and their team note several concerns with dal Rehn. Under

(46:15):
the heading of cautions and contra indications, they say it
is contra indicating those with blood deficiency or during pregnancy.
That's all. It's a short little thing, you know, on
the vital statistics of the herb. At the very beginning
of the of the chapter, it's where they set out
under the heading of traditional contra indications, they quote the

(46:39):
commentary on the Divine Husbandsman's classic material Medica or the
Shandaan ben sau jingshu Ran in sixteen twenty five, and
here they say perscasium and dururen excels by nature of
breaking up blood stasis, dispersing without restraint, draining without toonification,
overuse or inappropriate use can cause bleeding that does not

(47:01):
stop injuring the true yen. And then, finally, under a
third heading of toxicity, because of its amignalant content, this
serve is toxic. Overdosage causes toxic side effects. The latent
period two point five to five hours and the toxic

(47:23):
dose both depend on the botanical species ingested, the type
of processing. Peeled kernels are less toxic than unpeeled the
method of administration decoctions are far less toxic than ingestion
of the unprepared kernels, as well as the length of
time that it is chewed in the pH of the
gastric juice. For children under five years of age, five

(47:47):
to ten kernels are sufficient to cause side effects. Twenty
kernels can be lethal. So there you go. So we're
more concerned about the children over adults. Those are the
ones who typically will will have toxic effects from this
particular herb. But as we've been kind of saying, most

(48:11):
you know, look I buy this herb, I've only seen
it unpeeled, so right there, huge safety factor. It's the
peel of the skin that we're considered, the skin of
the peel or skin of the seed, that we're most
concerned about when we're talking about this toxicity. So almost
all of it that I see is unpeeled. I don't
think I've ever seen it peeled. I probably have, because

(48:32):
I've seen it a lot, but I can't recall any
of it. So it's unpeeled and then on top of that,
so we're using unpeeled so very unlikely for it to
be an issue, and then we're decocting it, which reduces
that even more so. The bottom line is if you're
using unpeeled toweran and you're decocting it, we're really really

(48:53):
minimizing the toxic effects of this of this herb to
the point where I don't think it's a major concern.
What I'm concerned in small children, Yeah, this is not
a nerve I'd probably use in small children, but for
adults I would not be concerned about. This is a
very useful and helpful herb in Chinese medicine, would not
be concerned about it, and adults as long as these

(49:15):
conditions are taken. And when I say decoctions, we should
make this clear. So decoction you know, if I think
we talked about them. If not, we'll get into it.
Decoctions are boils, you know, basic our water extraction. So
you put a bunch of herbs and boil it for
a while, and then often you'll drain it and add

(49:35):
more water, boil it again and combine the two water
fractions and drink it over a day or two. So
that's that's a decoction. But we often use these days,
we use granules, herbal granules, which are basically the same thing,
but then they're freeze dried, and so I consider the
granules to be not to be of concern either because

(49:57):
those have been decocted as well. And probably you know,
I'm all again, I'm not sure about this when I'm
pretty sure it would be with the with the peeled seeds,
so I'm not worried about using it in granule form
either because they go through this processing. So continuing with
this this toxicity. The symptoms of toxicity are similar to

(50:21):
those of cyanide poisoning, irritation of cashro intestino mucosa, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizzyness,
general weakness, blurred vision, tachycardia which is rapid heartbeat to
kydnia which is rapid breathing slow or regular respiration. No,
sorry to kypnia. Yeah that to kidneya's rapid, so then

(50:45):
it's a slower regular respiration. Gymnia is rapid. I'm a
little confused, okay, terror, impressive feeling in the chest, loss
of consciousness, and continents of urine and stool, dilated pupils
absence of pupillary reflex, so you shin to light in
it won't change. Severe spasms are cyanosis, which is bluing coma,

(51:08):
and shock. There are also reports of allergic reactions, skin
eruptions and puritis developed at the area of exposition. To
avoid toxicity, overdosage must be strictly avoided when taken directly
in pills or powders or by themselves. You should be
peeled after boiling a water app or a short time.
This procedure substantially reduces the amygdalen content, thereby significantly reduces

(51:33):
its toxicity. Peeling is unnecessary when the herb is used
in decoctions. Okay, So going on to our other textbooks,
ten Chen say dalarin is contriunicating cases of blood deficiency,
and dalurin is contraundicated during pregnancy due to its amenagogic

(51:55):
and abortifacient effects. So again, amenagogic means promotes menstruation and
abortifation means that it promotes abortions, which you know in
our current client depending on where you're at in the
United States, giving this herb to someone who's pregnant might
be getting big trouble with the law as well if

(52:17):
abortion actually occurs from it. Brand Wiseman reiterates these warnings
and adds use it with care and patients with sloppy
stool because it moistens the stool, so you don't want
to moisten a slappy stool. Decoctions are less toxic than
ingestion as a law of powder or a pill, but
it should still not be used in successive does suggest.

(52:39):
Having said all this, this is interesting. This is the
first RB that I've seen from Gardner mcguffin, which is
that Botanical Safety Handbook that we've been using, puts it
in its lowest safety category of three herbs to be
used only under the supervision of a qualified expert. So
again a very important herb, but I do think that

(53:00):
needs there are cautions for us to be concidered about.
And again with Gardner mcguffin the Botanical Secty Handbook, this
is based on its potential to create cyanide. So there
you go. So that's our herb for today. With all
the good in the in the bad, never shy away
from the bad as well. So in summer we started

(53:22):
today by looking at an important pulse quality of the
wiry pulse. Then we looked at the Chinese or tur
rent or peach kernel. We saw how important the herb
is in moving the blood, which can be used in
a wide variety of conditions including mentrual disorders, traumatic injuries,
and different types of pain, as well its ability in
its ability to moisten the intestines that unblock the bowels.

(53:46):
We spend a good amount of time discussing its toxicity
and discovering while toxicity is there, it is minimized by
decocting it as we do in Chinese medicine, and then
we have it another fascinating exploration of a use full
Chinese herb our Next episode, we will be looking at

(54:07):
another traditional Chinese formula, Bougi Shao du Yin or universal
Benefit drink to eliminate toxin. This is not so commonly used,
at least in my experience, formula for treating illnesses and epidemics,
especially something called acute massive febrile disorder of the head.

(54:29):
We're going to figure out what that means. Could this
fromaly be of help in COVID or maybe some other infections.
Join us as we find out, and as usual we
will be adding something a little different. If you only
listen to one podcast episode, please consider this one. Sorry,
it's going to be an interesting one, am. I'm always

(54:50):
fascinated with formulas that I am not familiar with, and
so I'm excited about this, and and in our context
of COVID, I'm curious as to whether this is an
interesting formula for this as well. I do have a
continuing education on COVID on how to treat COVID, and
if I'm not mistaken, I think this does come up

(55:11):
in there. So it'll be interesting to see how this
can be useful as we're moving forward into the COVID era.
With all that, I'd really like to say thank you.
If you'd like this podcast, please do us a favor
subscribe in your favorite podcast app. We appreciate thank you.
And you can get this courses, continuing education and get

(55:34):
more info on my upcoming integrative nutrition series at www
dot Integrative Medicine Council dot org. That's Integrative Medicine Council
cou n Cil dot org. You know, always get in
touch with me at doctor Greg at sperbserbs dot com,
or at our website www. Dot sperbs, heerbs dot com

(55:59):
and as usual, Alpher Bibliography Spurs. The preceding was presented
by doctor Greg Spermer. We would like to thank Janelle
Forrawler's support, and everybody else who contributed to this program.
Roger Campbell