Fat Sea is a plant of the Sterculiaceae family. It grows in Vietnam, India, Malaysia, and other places. It is used to treat heat-clearing and lung-moistening, throat-relieving and detoxifying, and intestinal moisturizing and bowel-relieving. It is used for symptoms such as hot and hoarse voice, dry cough without phlegm, dry and sore throat, hot and closed bowel, headache, and red eyes. Fat Sea is the dried and mature seed of the Sterculiaceae plant Fat Sea.
According to Chinese medicine, Fat Sea has a sweet taste and a cool nature, and it enters the lung and large intestine meridians. It is used for symptoms such as heat and hoarseness of the lungs, sore throat, hot and closed bowel, and hoarseness caused by excessive use of the vocal cords. However, it has only a certain adjuvant therapeutic effect on pharyngeal swelling and acute tonsillitis caused by external factors. As for voicelessness caused by vocal cord nodules, vocal cord polyps, incomplete vocal cord closure, and excessive alcohol and tobacco stimulation, Fat Sea is ineffective.
Functions of Fat Sea
1. Laxative effect
The extract of Fat Sea seeds has a laxative effect on rabbits because it can increase the volume of the intestine (8 times the volume of gelatin) and cause laxative effects due to mechanical stimulation. The water extracts of the outer skin, soft shell, and kernel of Fat Sea, regardless of the method of administration, can significantly increase intestinal peristalsis in anesthetized dogs (the effect of the kernel is the strongest, followed by the soft shell, and the outer skin is the weakest). This effect can be antagonized by atropine; the extract of the kernel at a concentration of 1:400,000 can increase the intestinal peristalsis of isolated rabbit intestines, and the other two extracts have no obvious effect.
2. Hypotensive effect
A 25% solution of Fat Sea kernel (defatted powder) can significantly lower blood pressure when administered intravenously, intramuscularly, or orally in dogs and cats. Further experiments have shown that its hypotensive mechanism may be related to the central nervous system. The water extract of Fat Sea kernel has a hypotensive effect on anesthetized dogs, but it has a hypertensive effect on rabbits (the effective dose for rabbits is 10 times that for dogs); it has different effects on blood pressure in dogs and rabbits; both can be sensitized by histamine.
3. Other effects
The water extracts of the outer skin, soft shell, and kernel of Fat Sea all have certain diuretic and analgesic effects, with the kernel being the strongest; none of the three have local irritant effects. The use of Fat Sea kernel (defatted powder) in acute poisoning tests can cause respiratory distress and motor dysfunction in rabbits; after continuous administration to dogs for 10-15 days in large doses, pulmonary congestion, edema, and liver fat changes can be observed; the oral LD50 in mice is 12.96 grams per kilogram. Intravenous injection of a large amount (1% 2 ml) of water extract of Fat Sea kernel in rabbits can cause cessation of respiration, but the heart is still beating, and the surface of the stomach and intestines is very red.
4. Use for throat disorders
Pharyngeal swelling is mostly caused by throat heat toxins or excessive heat in the lungs. In the treatment, the focus should be on clearing and relieving throat heat, and clearing and relieving lung heat. Fat Sea has a cool nature and acts on the lung meridian. It is good at clearing and relieving throat and can also clear and relieve lung heat, so it is very suitable for treating pharyngeal swelling. Whether used alone to make tea or combined with other heat-clearing, detoxifying, and throat-relieving Chinese herbs, it is very effective. Fat Sea not only clears and relieves throat, but also is good at relieving throat and opening voice. It is effective for treating hoarseness and even voice loss, whether acute or chronic.
