🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Special Expert: Professor Liu ShaoGui, Chief Pharmacist, First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Recently, 78-year-old Mrs. Zhou from Hunan became a media sensation because she believed she was pregnant. According to Associate Professor Ding Hong of Changsha Maternal and Child Health Hospital, last September, their daughter bought some deer antler slices as a gift. Mrs. Zhou ate a lot of them, gradually developing a stronger appetite, especially for fatty meats. Ding explained that Mrs. Zhou’s supposed pregnancy was actually caused by deer antler—her bloated abdomen resulted from fat accumulation. Deer antler contains male hormones that stimulate metabolism and increase appetite. Overconsumption of such kidney-tonifying and yang-strengthening herbs can even lead to hypertension—Mrs. Zhou’s blood pressure was measured at 190/110.
Older adults are highly concerned about health and often enthusiastic about tonics. They frequently place undue faith in expensive traditional delicacies like bird’s nest, shark fin, and deer antler. Professor Liu ShaoGui, speaking to reporters, emphasized that some expensive items offer no extraordinary therapeutic value, while ordinary foods like sweet potatoes and onions possess significant nutritional benefits. One should choose medicinal diets based on actual needs, not price. Especially for the elderly, practicality should guide supplementation.
Expensive Tonics Are Not Always Better
Professor Liu believes elderly people must proceed cautiously with medicinal tonics. First, consult experienced physicians or pharmacists to assess cold/hot, deficiency/excess, and balance of yin/yang and qi/blood. Never trust misleading advertisements or blindly supplement. If symptoms are severe or diagnosed with serious conditions, seek medical treatment—do not self-medicate or follow others’ advice arbitrarily.
Adjust tonics according to seasonal climate and regional differences. Autumn and winter, particularly around Winter Solstice, are ideal times for tonification. Spring and summer, especially hot summers, generally avoid warm-dry tonics. Be aware of “not being able to tolerate tonics”—some weak individuals experience diarrhea, bloating, irritability, or “heat” after taking supplements.
Do not rush results—adhere to gentle, gradual tonification. Avoid expecting instant results like “gaining weight overnight.” Do not use overly strong warming, cooling, or sticky substances. Especially avoid indiscriminate use of kidney-warming, yang-strengthening drugs like deer antler, deer penis, horse penis, ox penis, dog kidney, sea dog kidney—these are strongly warming and hormone-rich; they are unsuitable for those without severe kidney yang deficiency. Some gelatinous herbs and sticky substances like cooked rehmannia and cinnamon are also unsuitable for those with weak spleen and stomach or poor digestion.
Do not overvalue price or pursue rare, expensive tonics. Some affluent individuals favor wild ginseng, bird’s nest, shark fin, etc., but this is unnecessary. While bird’s nest and shark fin contain protein levels above 50% and 83% respectively, both are incomplete proteins. In short, whether dietary or medicinal tonification, it must be scientific and rational—based on individual conditions, diagnose properly, tailor diet and supplementation, and practice moderation.
Spring Health Preservation Through Diet Is Optimal
"Spring Qi corresponds to the principle of health preservation." For humans, spring demands particular attention to dietary regulation to maintain health. Spring health preservation "should involve dietary tonification." However, it must align with the rising yang energy in spring—select mild, clear tonics to avoid counterproductive effects.
Nutritionists suggest that middle-aged and elderly individuals showing early signs of aging, those with chronic illnesses and frail bodies, or those suffering from back pain, dizziness, sallow complexion, and low spirits can utilize spring to adopt appropriate dietary methods for prevention and treatment based on personal constitution and condition. Elderly individuals with such issues may benefit from mild tonification. Foods with this effect include buckwheat, coix seed, soy milk, red beans, oranges, apples, sesame seeds, walnuts—suitable for long-term consumption.
Elderly individuals with internal heat due to yin deficiency may opt for clear tonification. Such foods include pear, lotus root, shepherd’s purse, lily bulb—these are slightly cool in nature, helping reduce heat and inflammation, improving poor constitution. During illness or recovery, elderly individuals should prefer light, clean, flavorful, and easily digestible foods—such as rice porridge, lotus seed porridge, vegetable puree, meat powder.
Chinese medicine holds that “all plants sprout, all diseases flare up,” meaning spring is prone to recurrence of old ailments. With warm, windy weather promoting microbial reproduction and spread, spring sees more external infections. This is especially critical for elderly individuals with weakened constitutions.