Leung's Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics

for its traditional detoxicant (antiallergic) and
nourishing properties.

Dietary Supplements/Health Foods. Pow-
der and occasionally extracts are used in tonic
formulas in America, though often with no
distinction between the raw and cured forms;
also used in sliced form in soup mix packets.

Traditional Medicine. Fo-ti was first de-
scribedinHeShouWuLu(before10thcentury)
and later inKai Bao Ben Cao(10th century, in
the Song Dynasty). Raw fo-ti is traditionally
consideredadetoxicantandlaxativeandisused
to treat scrofula (lymph node tuberculosis),
sores, carbuncles, skin eruptions (feng zhen),
pruritis, and constipation, among other condi-
tions. On the other hand, cured fo-ti is tradi-
tionally considered to have slightly warming
properties and a liver and kidney tonic; it is
believed to tone up the vital essence and blood
and to fortify the muscles, tendons, and
bones. Cured fo-ti is traditionally used to treat

dizziness with tinnitus, insomnia, premature

graying, soreness and weakness of lower back

andknees,andnumbnessoflimbsandothers.In

recent years, both raw and cured fo-ti are also

used in treating hyperlipemia (CHP;JIANGSU).

COMMERCIAL PREPARATIONS

Crude, powder, and extracts. Raw fo-ti comes

in whole, halved, or thick slices, light brown to

brown in color; cured fo-ti in very dark brown

to dark reddish brown slices. Due to the much

lower price of raw fo-ti, this is normally the

powder available in America. Also, there is no

simple practical assay method to determine

whether a given extract from a supplier is

genuine fo-ti and which type it is.

Regulatory Status. Class 2d dietary supple-

ment (contraindicated with diarrhea, prepared

root and stem may cause gastric distress, raw

root causes catharsis).

REFERENCES

See the General References forCHEUNG AND LI;CHP;DER MARDEROSIAN AND BEUTLER;FOSTER AND YUE;
HONGKUI;HUANG;IMM-1;IMM-CAMS,JIANGSU;JIXIAN;LIST AND HO ̈RHAMMER;WANG.

1. D. J. Ye et al.,Zhongyao Tongbao, 12 ,21
   (1987).
   2.Herbal Pharmacology in the People’s
   Republic of China, National Academy
   of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1975,
   p. 186.
   3.A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual, Running
   Press, Philadelphia, 1977, p. 743.


2. J. D. Keys,Chinese Herbs, Charles E.
   Tuttle Co., Rutland, VT, 1976, p. 151.


3. M. Tierra, The Way of Herbs, Pocket
   Books, New York, 1989, p. 183.


4. J. K. Kam,Am. J. Chin. Med., 9 , 213
   (1981).


5. K. Hata et al., Yakugaku Zasshi, 95
   (1975).


6. Y. Kimura et al.,Planta Med., 49 ,51
   (1983).
   9. W. L.DengandS.R.Gong,Zhongcaoyao,
   18 , 42 (1987).


7. G. G. Yao et al.,Zhongcaoyao, 14 ,15
   (1983).


8. S. Yao, J. Chromatogr. A, 1115 ,64
   (2006).


9. D. J. Ye et al.,Zhongyao Tongbao, 11 ,23
   (1986).


10. L. Q. Ling et al.,Shanghai Zhongyiyao
    Zazhi, 78 (1966).


11. M. X. Chang et al.,Zhongcaoyao, 19 ,17
    (1988).


12. C. H. Ma and J. S. Wang,Zhongguo
    Zhongyao Zazhi, 16 , 662 (1991).


13. Y. Chen,J. Agric. Food Chem., 47 , 2226
    (1999).


14. X. Z. Yan,Shanghai Ti I I Hsueh Pao, 8 ,
    123 (1981).

Fo-ti (raw and cured) 297