What Not to Eat When Drinking Chinese Herbal Medicine? (Part 1)
When seeing a Chinese doctor, physicians often instruct us on certain dietary restrictions because certain foods can affect the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine. So, what should we avoid eating when drinking Chinese herbal medicine?
I. Vegetables to Avoid When Drinking Chinese Herbal Medicine
1. Do not eat radishes while taking Chinese herbal medicine (except for phlegm-resolving and digestive medicine). Radishes have the effects of promoting digestion and breaking up qi. Especially when taking tonifying herbs such as ginseng, eating radishes can reduce the effectiveness of the herbal medicine and negate its nourishing effects, thus failing to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.
2. Patients with digestive tract diseases such as hepatitis and chronic gastritis should not eat garlic when taking spleen-strengthening, stomach-warming, and stomach-protecting medicine. Garlic contains allicin, which can stimulate the gastric mucosa and cause congestion, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the herbal medicine and its therapeutic effects.
3. Do not eat chili peppers while taking Chinese herbal medicine, especially for hot diseases. It is even more inappropriate to eat chili peppers when taking heat-clearing, cooling blood, or nourishing yin and reducing inflammation medicine. Chili peppers can reduce the efficacy of the medicine and weaken the treatment effect.
Some foods can affect the expression of Chinese herbal medicine's properties and should not be consumed while drinking herbal medicine. So, what should we avoid eating when drinking Chinese herbal medicine?
II. Can We Eat Fruits When Drinking Chinese Herbal Medicine?
It is best not to eat anything, especially fruits and vegetables, within 30 minutes before or after taking medicine. This is because certain fruits and vegetables contain substances that can chemically react with the medication, altering its effects.
Avoid eating cooling fruits: pears, hawthorn, water chestnuts, kumquats, lilies, bananas, sugarcane, persimmons, etc.
III. Can We Drink Tea When Drinking Chinese Herbal Medicine?
According to Chinese medicine, it is best not to drink tea while taking herbal medicine. This is because the chemical components in tea not only reduce or affect the efficacy of the medication but also produce some side effects. Therefore, tea should not be consumed with medication. Furthermore, it is generally not necessary to use tea to take herbal medicine because drinking tea can counteract the effects of the medicine. Tea contains a large amount of tannic acid, which easily forms insoluble precipitates with alkaloids. Many active ingredients in Chinese herbal medicine are alkaloids, such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in ephedra, berberine in coptis, and aucubin in lonicera. When the decoction of these herbs is taken with tea, precipitation occurs, affecting the efficacy of the medicine. At the same time, tannic acid in tea has astringent properties and inhibits the absorption of proteins and other nutrients in the body. Therefore, when taking tonifying herbs such as codonopsis, astragalus, and dioscorea, drinking tea, especially strong tea, can reduce the effectiveness of the medicine.
IV. Can We Drink Milk When Drinking Chinese Herbal Medicine?
Milk contains abundant tyramine. When an enzyme that breaks down tyramine in the body is inhibited by antihypertensive drugs, tyramine accumulates in large amounts, causing a sudden increase in blood pressure, arrhythmia, and in severe cases, sustained hypertension or even hypertensive crisis.
Many hypertensive patients are unaware of this and sometimes use milk instead of warm water to take medication or take antihypertensive drugs and drink milk too close in time, which can lead to this danger, which is also common in clinical practice.
Not only antihypertensive drugs but also some cardiac drugs, such as digitalis and digoxin, should not be consumed with a large amount of milk. The calcium in milk can enhance the toxicity of digitalis and digoxin, leading to drug accumulation toxicity reactions and even accidents. Beta-blockers used to treat hypertension and prevent heart disease should not be taken with fruit juice, as reactions can occur. When aspirin is taken, it should not be consumed with tea, as it can react with tannic acid.
