We know that Five Spice Herb can be used as an ingredient for stir-frying, which gives the dish a very fragrant and flavorful taste. However, Five Spice Herb is also a type of Chinese herbal medicine. Is it harmful to humans?
Image of Five Spice Herb
【Is Five Spice Herb Harmful to Humans?】
Toxicity. The toxicity of Five Spice Herb is related to the presence of quercetin.
Five Spice Herb has certain pharmacological effects. Although the toxicity is relatively low, if consumed for a long time and if the excretion ability of organs such as the kidneys and liver is poor, side effects such as convulsions and tetany may occur.
In order to avoid such occurrences, it is necessary to adjust the duration of consuming Five Spice Herb according to one's own condition. Based on most cases, long-term consumption is not recommended.
The LD50 of intraperitoneal injection of Five Spice Herb decoction in mice is 0.78±0.13ml/kg.
Small doses have no obvious toxicity to rabbits, but at doses above 1ml/kg, obvious symptoms of poisoning such as arrhythmia and convulsions occur. At a dose of 2ml/kg, rabbits experience repeated convulsions, rigid body, tetany, and repeated episodes until death.
Subacute toxicity tests have shown that feeding rabbits with 0.14ml/kg of volatile oil mixed with food continuously for 2 weeks did not show any abnormalities in hemoglobin, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea nitrogen, and other indicators. The toxicity of Five Spice Herb may be related to the presence of quercetin.
Sodium pentobarbital at a dose of 30mg/kg has a certain protective effect on rabbits in the low-dose group.
【Selection and Application of Five Spice Herb】
1. Treatment of abdominal pain: 15g of Five Spice Herb, 9g of Patchouli, and 9g of Schizonepeta. Decoction and consumption. (From "Hangzhou Medicinal Plants")
2. Treatment of peptic ulcers: 9g of Five Spice Herb, 9g of Dalbergia odorifera, 30g of Dandelion, and 6g of Xu Changqing. Decoction and consumption.
3. Treatment of tonsillitis: 45g of Five Spice Herb, with an appropriate amount of honey. Decoction and consumption.
4. Treatment of furuncles: 9g of Five Spice Herb, 9g of Wild Chrysanthemum, 30g of Hedyotis diffusa, and 30g of Dandelion. Decoction and consumption.
5. Treatment of centipede bites: Apply crushed Five Spice Herb externally. (Recipes 2-5 are from "Zhejiang Commonly Used Folk Herbs")
