When Chinese medicine practitioners prescribe herbal medicine, they usually prescribe a 4-7 day supply. For patients with chronic diseases, they may prescribe a two-week supply. Many patients choose to have all the herbs decocted at once in the hospital or pharmacy, and then store the decocted herbal soup in the refrigerator. So, how long can decocted herbal medicine be stored in the refrigerator?
First of all, we need to understand the packaging form of the decocted herbal medicine. Currently, the most common packaging for decocted herbal medicine is vacuum-sealed packaging, and it can also be stored in containers provided by the patients themselves.
We have found that different hospitals and pharmacies have different recommended storage times for the sealed vacuum bags. There has been a study where different herbal prescriptions were stored under different temperature conditions. By observing the degree of deterioration of the herbal soup, parameters such as odor, turbidity, mold growth, and acidity were recorded. The results showed that the higher the temperature, the faster the deterioration of the herbal soup. In seasons with higher temperatures, at room temperatures above 25℃, the herbal soup can generally be stored for no more than 2 days. If refrigerated, it can be stored for 7 days without deterioration. In addition, even under the same conditions, different herbal prescriptions have different degrees of deterioration. If the herbal soup contains more starch, protein, sugar, and other components, it will deteriorate faster.
In order to ensure the safety of the medicine, the optimal temperature for storing vacuum-sealed packaged decocted herbal medicine is 0-5℃, and the storage time is 7-14 days, but it is best not to exceed 7 days. On the one hand, after the herbal soup is cooked, it is often kept at room temperature for half a day to a day before being refrigerated at home, which will "accelerate" the deterioration of the herbal soup. On the other hand, if the decocted herbal soup contains animal-based herbs such as scorpion or centipede, or herbs with high sugar content such as cooked rehmannia root or astragalus root, it will also affect the storage time. If the herbal liquid bag is swollen or the liquid has a strange smell with bubbles, it has deteriorated and should not be consumed.
If the decocted herbal medicine is stored in containers provided by the patients themselves, it is generally not recommended to be consumed overnight. Even if it is stored in the refrigerator, it should not exceed 3 days to prevent the deterioration of the herbal soup from affecting health.
