By Eric Brand

When most Chinese medicine practitioners think of bing lang (betel nut), we think of a dried cross section of a seed that is used to kill parasites, downbear qi, and disinhibit urination. Few practitioners know that betel nut is also chewed as a mild psychoactive drug in Taiwan and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. In fact, one of the most unexpected sights for many foreigners upon arriving in Taiwan is the presence of thousands of little shops selling betel nut. The shops are often brightly lit with Vegas style flashing lights, and they are commonly staffed by young women wearing bikinis. These shops are especially common in the southern part of Taiwan, particularly in rural areas.

How did we get from a Chinese medicine for intestinal worms to flashing lights and bikinis?

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By Eric Brand

Here is an interesting article from Taiwan on Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang. The article assesses several products on the market for the presence of aristolochic acid (AA), which would come from the presence of Xi Xin in Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang. Essentially the conclusion of the article was that Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang basically lacked significant levels of AA and was not associated with nephotoxicity in the patient population that was studied.

Here's the full text:
http://www.cmjournal.org/content/5/1/6

by Bob Flaws

If people know you're a doctor, they're always asking you in social settings how to treat this or that ailment they or a loved one is suffering from. If people know you're a famous doctor, albeit of Chinese medicine, these kinds of requests are ubiquitous and never-ending. So I wasn't particularly surprised this weekend when a woman I was chatting with at a social gathering asked me for a recommendation for a Blue Poppy formula. As always in such situations, I strongly advised that she see a professional practitioner of Chinese medicine who could do a proper in-take and diagnosis. However, the woman told me she had been to see many practitioners of acupuncture/Chinese medicine over the years as well as Western MDs, DCs, and NDs, all to no avail.

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By Eric Brand

Marker compounds refer to chemical constituents within a medicinal that can be used to verify its potency or identity. For some medicinals, the marker compounds could be described as active ingredients. In other substances, the marker compounds of interest are chemicals that confirm the correct botanical identity of the starting material. There is not consensus on the correct marker compounds for all traditional medicinals, because some medicinals have unknown active constituents and others have multiple active constituents. In some situations, experts disagree about which group of constituents is responsible for the therapeutic effects of a given substance, so there is a lack of consensus when it comes to determining which constituents are the correct marker compounds for such items.

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By Eric Brand

What is the difference between full-spectrum extracts and standardized extracts? What do these terms mean and how do they affect us as Chinese medical practitioners?

1. Full Spectrum Extracts

In the context of Chinese medicine, full spectrum extracts tend to refer to products that reflect the natural constituent yield that is obtained from a traditional water decoction. Historically, most prescriptions have been prepared as a water decoction, so replicating a decoction is thought to provide the best approximation of the spectrum of constituents that Chinese medicine’s time-tested results are based upon.

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