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Kudzu root for thirst and loose stool 葛根生津止泻
Digestion 消化肠胃 traditional evidenceWhat the evidence says:
This is the 药典 indication — 生津止渴 (generates fluids, stops thirst) and 升阳止泻 (raises yang, stops diarrhoea) — and it is traditional, not independently verified. NOTE what is NOT being claimed: the one genuinely interesting independent result for kudzu is that a standardized puerarin-rich EXTRACT acutely cut beer intake in tiny short trials. That is a different product from the sliced root, and the menopause and blood-pressure claims are unverified.
This is the 药典 indication — 生津止渴 (generates fluids, stops thirst) and 升阳止泻 (raises yang, stops diarrhoea) — and it is traditional, not independently verified. NOTE what is NOT being claimed: the one genuinely interesting independent result for kudzu is that a standardized puerarin-rich EXTRACT acutely cut beer intake in tiny short trials. That is a different product from the sliced root, and the menopause and blood-pressure claims are unverified.
How to make it
Simmer 10–15 g dried 葛根 slices in 500 ml water for 20 min; drink warm through the day. As food, kudzu starch (葛粉) whisked into hot water is the everyday Cantonese form.
Why it works
The starch form is close to pure carbohydrate — pleasant, hydrating, and not a source of the isoflavones the research is about.
Classical source
葛根 is 中品 in the Shennong Bencao Jing — 主消渴，身大熱，嘔吐，諸痹，起陰氣，解諸毒.
Cautions: Cool in nature — caution if you run cold or have loose stool from cold rather than heat. Isoflavones are phytoestrogenic; be cautious with hormone-sensitive conditions at high extract doses. Not a treatment for diabetes despite the classical 消渴 wording, which is not the same thing as the modern diagnosis.
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