Adding white sugar to warm medicinal decoctions, or brown sugar to cool medicinal decoctions, will weaken the medicinal properties, hinder the full absorption of the efficacy, and affect the therapeutic effect.
The chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine are relatively complex. Sugar, especially brown sugar, contains more elements such as iron and calcium. Components in Chinese medicine, such as proteins and tannins, can combine with these elements, causing chemical reactions. This can cause some active ingredients in the medicinal liquid to coagulate and denature, subsequently leading to turbidity and precipitation. This not only affects the efficacy but also poses a health hazard.
Traditional Chinese medicinal decoctions are very effective, but their taste is quite bitter and astringent. Needless to say, it's difficult even for adults to drink. So, some people wonder, can sugar be added to the decoction to mask the unpalatable bitterness? This approach, which prioritizes taste over therapeutic effect, is not recommended in medicine. At best, it reduces efficacy; at worst, it can produce side effects.
In every prescription, the constituent herbs have different flavors: sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. Their medicinal properties also vary: cold, hot, warm, and cool. Sugar itself also possesses certain medicinal properties and therapeutic effects. It has the functions of moistening the lungs, harmonizing the middle jiao, tonifying the spleen, and soothing the liver. It can be used to treat conditions such as lung dryness and cough, dry mouth and throat, middle jiao deficiency, and stomach pain. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine also classifies sugar as a medicinal herb.
1. Excessive sugar consumption can generate heat. If a patient exhibits symptoms such as abdominal distension and fullness, damp-heat stagnation, or a thick, greasy tongue coating, sugar is generally strictly prohibited to avoid adverse reactions.
2. White sugar is cooling in nature, while brown sugar is warming in nature. Adding white sugar to a warm medicinal decoction, or brown sugar to a cool medicinal decoction, will weaken the medicinal properties, hinder the full absorption of the efficacy, and affect the therapeutic effect.
3. The chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine are relatively complex. Sugar, especially brown sugar, contains more elements such as iron and calcium. Components in Chinese medicine, such as proteins and tannins, can combine with these elements, causing chemical reactions. This can cause some active ingredients in the medicinal liquid to coagulate and denature, subsequently leading to turbidity and precipitation. This not only affects the efficacy but also poses a health hazard.
4. Some medicines utilize their bitter taste to stimulate the secretion of digestive glands, thereby enhancing their therapeutic effect. For example, Coptis chinensis (Huanglian) works by exciting the taste analyzers, which in turn increases the excitement of the appetite center, reflexively causing an increase in gastric juice secretion, thereby exerting a stomach-strengthening effect. If sugar is added, this effect will be lost, and the therapeutic goal will not be achieved.