Hawthorn slices, hawthorn cakes, and candied haws—various hawthorn snacks are sweet and sour, and many pregnant women have a craving for them. However, the folk belief that "hawthorn invigorates blood and can easily cause miscarriage" has scared many expectant mothers. From the perspective of Shi Xianfang, an associate chief physician of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department at the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, this claim is clearly exaggerated. Hawthorn can aid digestion and resolve food stagnation, and also has the effect of invigorating blood and resolving lipids. It is suitable for both the old and the young, and pregnant women do not need to avoid it.
Hawthorn is good at eliminating greasiness and resolving meat stagnation
Hawthorn is both a food and a medicine. Shi Xianfang explains that hawthorn has a sour, sweet, and slightly warm nature, and it affects the Spleen, Stomach, and Liver meridians. It has functions such as promoting digestion to resolve food stagnation and moving Qi to dispel stasis. It was a commonly prepared medicinal herb in ancient official and wealthy families because it is particularly good at eliminating fishy, greasy, and fatty meat stagnation. Modern diets tend to be more Westernized, and hawthorn can be very useful. People with hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, and other conditions are quite suitable for eating hawthorn.
Shi Xianfang mentioned that hawthorn's effect of digesting greasy meat stagnation is also applicable to children. For example, for children with food stagnation or milk stagnation, eating a few slices of hawthorn or some fruit leather after meals daily can achieve a certain effect of resolving food stagnation.
Caution is needed for those with weak Spleen and Stomach
However, Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that hawthorn only eliminates without supplementing. Shi Xianfang emphasizes that not all children are suitable for eating hawthorn slices. Those children who usually have a weak Spleen and Stomach, have a poor appetite, or eat significantly less than their peers at each meal are not suitable for eating hawthorn snacks like hawthorn slices or fruit leather frequently.
If a child's abdominal bloating or pain after eating is caused by a weak Spleen and Stomach, Shi Xianfang suggests that the amount of hawthorn snacks should not be large. At the same time, hawthorn can be used with malt, Chinese yam, and other ingredients for diet therapy for the child.
Although hawthorn has a sweet and sour taste and enhances appetite, it should be used with caution for those without food stagnation or with a weak Spleen and Stomach. Moreover, hawthorn can promote gastric acid secretion, so those with excessive gastric acid secretion should also use it with caution. Eating too much hawthorn is not good for the Spleen and Stomach.
Invigorating blood to resolve stasis will not disturb the fetus
Regarding the taboo for pregnant women, Shi Xianfang stated that the public's misunderstanding of hawthorn has existed for a long time, and its spread online has deepened the misconception. "We must be clear that hawthorn does have the effect of invigorating blood and resolving stasis," Shi Xianfang said. "On one hand, its effect is not that strong. On the other hand, it invigorates stagnant blood and will not harm the fetus."
Not only that, but there are also records in Traditional Chinese Medicine of using hawthorn to treat postpartum blood stasis and menstrual issues: Hawthorn peel is red, and its flesh is red and yellow, so it is good at entering the blood aspect and is a key medicine for resolving blood stasis. It can remove abdominal masses, amenorrhea in women, and postpartum blood stasis pain (commonly known as "child pillow pain"). Its power to resolve stasis can also eliminate stagnation in the intestines, dysentery with pus and blood, and it also enters the Qi aspect to open Qi stagnation and phlegm knots, treating heart and abdominal pain. If it is assisted with sweet medicines (such as licorice, sucrose, etc., combining sour and sweet), it can resolve blood stasis without damaging new blood, open stagnant Qi without damaging righteous Qi, and its nature is particularly mild.