Food-dispersing agents

Food-dispersing medicinals are described as dispersing food and transforming accumulations. That is, they address stagnation of food in the digestive tract, which is most commonly characterized by signs such as fullness and distension in the stomach duct and abdomen, belching, acid swallowing, and nausea and vomiting. Food-dispersing medicinals are mostly balanced in nature. They are all sweet and enter the spleen and stomach channels.

Properties

Nature: Mostly balanced.

Flavor: All sweet.

Channel entry: Spleen and stomach channels.

Bearing: Downsinking.

Actions

Food-dispersing medicinals disperse food and transform accumulations. Many of them also harmonize the stomach, that is, they enhance the stomach’s function of passing food down to the small intestine. It is said that stomach qì is normal when there is harmonious downbearing. Food-dispersing medicinals promote this action. Most open the stomach, meaning that they increase the appetite. The stomach governs intake, and poor appetite is a stomach problem. This is why increasing the appetite is called opening the stomach.

Indications

food stagnation arises when the amount or kind of food ingested cannot be handled by the spleen and stomach. It is characterized by signs such as fullness and distension in the stomach duct and abdomen, belching, acid swallowing, nausea, and vomiting. In some cases, there is diarrhea or constipation. If there is constipation, it presents with ungratifying defecation and sour, putrid, and foul-smelling stool, and is usually accompanied by pain that is relieved by defecation.

Food accumulation arises in various ways. The main cause of food accumulation in adults is what is traditionally called voracious eating and drinking, i.e., eating and drinking too much at a time (see Warnings below).

Food that is excessively rich or to which an individual is unaccustomed may also be a factor. People with habitual spleen-stomach vacuity can easily suffer from food accumulation when they overeat slightly or eat too much oily food.

When a patient suffers external contraction of evil qì, especially wind-cold evil, this can easily damage the stomach and spleen. In such patterns, even normal amounts of food can cause food stagnation.

Additionally, emotional disturbances can cause liver-wood exploiting the spleen, a condition that effects the spleen’s function of movement and transformation, and thereby causes food stagnation.

Finally, infants and children are especially prone to food stagnation. Physical growth poses greater demand for food in children than in adults. Children also have a poor sense of hunger and satiety.

Combinations With Other Categories

Depending on the nature of the condition to be treated, food-dispersing medicinals are combined with agents possessing other actions.

• Spleen-stomach qì stagnation: Food stagnating in the center burner invariably obstructs the qì dynamic, causing spleen-stomach qì stagnation. Combine food-dispersing medicinals with agents that move qì and loosen the center (i.e., treat qì stagnation in the stomach and spleen), such as chén pí (Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium).
• Cold signs: If there are cold signs, consider using center-warming medicinals such as gān jiāng (Zingiberis Rhizoma).
• Food stagnation transforming into heat: This pattern gives rise to constipation with foul smelling flatus. For this condition, add cold, bitter, and mildly precipitating medicinals such as fān xiè yè (Sennae Folium) to discharge heat and precipitate stool (expel the stool).
• Damp turbidity obstructing the center with fullness and oppression: Combine food-dispersing medicinals with agents that transform dampness and arouse the spleen, such as hòu pò (Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex). huò xiāng (Pogostemonis Herba) is an excellent aromatic addition if damp turbidity obstructs the qì dynamic and thereby causes nausea.
• Spleen-stomach vacuity with poor movement and transformation, manifesting in fatigue, poor appetite, and weight gain: Treatment should aim primarily at supplementing the spleen and regulating the stomach; food-dispersing medicinals alone cannot be relied upon to achieve any substantial effect.

Warnings

Do not use for extended periods of time: Although food-dispersing medicinals are generally mild, some wear the qì of the body and should therefore not be used for extended periods. For qì vacuity with food stagnation, the treatment should center on regulating the spleen and stomach.

Not appropriate for all food accumulations: Food-dispersing medicinals are not used for all kinds of food accumulation. For example, when voracious eating and drinking causes food to remain in the stomach, the most effective form of treatment is ejection (causing the patient to vomit).