What are the medicinal materials used in medical herbal therapy preparations?

Currently, the medical herbal therapy preparations approved for sale in China are mainly concentrated in the categories of heat-clearing, surface-relieving, tonic, and dampness-removing. The eight most frequently appearing ones are Houttuynia cordata, honeysuckle, astragalus, forsythia, mugwort, peppermint, isatis root, and atractylodes. The rest of the medicinal materials are mostly based on the efficacy of the preparation and are matched with authentic medicinal materials that meet the pharmacopoeia standards.

I don’t say this out of thin air. A while ago, I helped my cousin who runs a community physical therapy center sort out the qualifications of the medical herbal preparations purchased. I looked through the ingredient lists of 20 or 30 different categories of products, and most of them could be seen in the ingredients list. For example, the hot compress type herbal patches used for patients with neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain are basically added with mugwort and atractylodes, and some are also mixed with safflower and panax notoginseng. The volatile medicinal properties penetrate into the muscle layer with warmth, and the soreness and swelling disappear much faster than ordinary warm patches. When I was suffering from herpetic angina, the doctor prescribed herbal throat spray. The core ingredients were Houttuynia cordata and Forsythia suspensa. Spraying on it relieved the burning sensation in my throat in ten minutes. It was much more effective than the ordinary throat spray I bought on my own.

However, there is a lot of controversy in the industry over the boundaries of medicinal materials selection for medical herbal preparations. Many practitioners who are deeply involved in folk herbal medicine believe that many folk herbal medicines that have been clinically verified for generations, such as Tiaogu Dan, which is used to treat bruises in some southwest areas, are better than conventional medicinal materials in reducing swelling and setting bones. As long as they are processed and attenuated, and standardized safety verification is completed, they can be included in the list of medicinal materials for medical preparations. ； However, there are also many compliance experts who are firmly opposed. They feel that medicinal materials that have not entered the national pharmacopoeia have insufficient research on toxic side effects and pharmacological effects. Once access is released, it will be easy for unscrupulous merchants to take advantage of the loopholes. In the past two years, there were reports of illegal additions of toxic herbal products such as Xiaozihao eczema cream, which was passed off as a medical preparation, causing skin ulcers at the parts of the user's contact. It is no wonder that everyone is cautious.

For us ordinary users, there is no need to remember the ingredients in the preparation. As long as it is a formally approved medical herbal preparation, the selection of medicinal ingredients strictly complies with the Pharmacopoeia standards, and there will be no illegal additions. If you are really unsure, scan the national drug approval number or the registration number of the device number on the package, and check the public ingredient list. Don't believe in the "three-no herbal preparations with ancestral secret recipes" that are trumpeted.