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Fish-mint for a hot cough with thick yellow phlegm 鱼腥草清肺
Cough, Throat & Chest 咳嗽·咽喉·胸肺 traditional evidenceWhat the evidence says:
The 药典 indication is lung abscess and heat cough with yellow sputum, hot dysentery and damp-heat urinary problems. Traditional use. IMPORTANT: injectable 鱼腥草 preparations were suspended in China after severe allergic reactions and deaths — that is a hospital product, not this tea, but it is why the herb is treated with respect.
The 药典 indication is lung abscess and heat cough with yellow sputum, hot dysentery and damp-heat urinary problems. Traditional use. IMPORTANT: injectable 鱼腥草 preparations were suspended in China after severe allergic reactions and deaths — that is a hospital product, not this tea, but it is why the herb is treated with respect.
How to make it
Simmer 15–25 g dried 鱼腥草 briefly — 5–10 min only, as the volatile oil is the active part and long boiling drives it off. Widely eaten fresh as a salad herb in Sichuan and Guizhou.
Why it works
A genuine vegetable in southwest China; the food use is entirely ordinary.
Classical source
鱼腥草 is 名医别录 (as 蕺), not the Shennong Bencao Jing.
Cautions: Cold in nature — avoid with cold-type cough or weak digestion. Yellow-green sputum with fever, chest pain or breathlessness is pneumonia until proven otherwise: that needs a doctor and probably antibiotics, not a herb.
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