hawthorn

Hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge), also known as mountain fruit and mountain red, is a deciduous tree of the genus Crataegus in the Rosaceae family, reaching a height of 6 meters.

It is distributed in Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and other places.

A drupe fruit with a hard core, thin flesh and a slightly sour taste. The fruit can be eaten raw or made into preserved fruit cakes, and can be used as medicine after being dried. It is a unique Chinese tree species that can be used as both a medicine and a fruit. It has the effects of lowering blood lipids, blood pressure, strengthening the heart, and resisting arrhythmia. It is also a good medicine for strengthening the spleen and appetite, digesting food and removing stagnation, promoting blood circulation and removing phlegm. It has a good effect on chest and spleen fullness, hernia, blood stasis, amenorrhea and other symptoms. Vitexin, a flavonoid compound in hawthorn, is a drug with a strong anti-cancer effect. Its extract has a certain effect on inhibiting the growth, proliferation, infiltration and metastasis of cancer cells in the body.

Nutritional value of hawthorn

1. Hawthorn is high in calories and contains a large amount of carotene, calcium, carbohydrates, hawthorn acid, pectin, etc.

2. The content of vitamins in hawthorn is extremely high, second only to red dates and kiwi fruit. In addition, the content of carotene and calcium is relatively high.

3. Hawthorn leaves contain flavonoids, which are 20 times the content of fruits.

The efficacy and function of hawthorn

1. Lowering blood lipids

Prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, soften blood vessels, and have diuretic and sedative effects.

2. Appetite

It can stimulate appetite and help digestion, especially it is better for eliminating meat stagnation. Hawthorn is used in many digestive medicines.

3. Promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis

Hawthorn has the effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, which helps to relieve local congestion and has an auxiliary therapeutic effect on bruises and injuries.

4. Can Treat Diarrhea

Hawthorn contains ingredients that can relieve asthma, reduce phlegm, inhibit bacteria, and treat abdominal pain and diarrhea.

5. Promote the recovery of the uterus

Hawthorn has a contraction effect on the uterus, can induce labor in pregnant women, and can promote the recovery of the uterus after delivery.

6. Anti-aging

The flavonoids, vitamin C, carotene and other substances contained in hawthorn can block and reduce the generation of free radicals, enhance the body's immunity, and have anti-aging and anti-cancer effects.

Medicinal value of hawthorn

Flavor

Sour, sweet, slightly warm.

Meridians

Enters the spleen, stomach and liver meridians.

Function and indications

It can help digestion, dissipate blood stasis, and expel tapeworms. It can treat meat accumulation, abdominal masses, phlegm and fluid retention, fullness, acid regurgitation, diarrhea, intestinal wind, low back pain, hernia, postpartum occipital pain, lochia retention, and milk and food stagnation in children. It can help digestion and invigorate the stomach, promote qi and dissipate blood stasis. It can be used for meat stagnation, gastric stenosis, diarrhea and abdominal pain, blood stasis amenorrhea, postpartum stasis, heart and abdomen pain, hernia pain, and hyperlipidemia.

① Treat all kinds of food accumulation: 4 liang of hawthorn, 4 liang of white atractylodes, 2 liang of Shenqu. Grind the above into powder, steam and make pills, about the size of a pill, take 70 pills, and drink with white soup. (Danxi's Heart Method)

②Treatment of indigestion of meat: 4 liang of hawthorn meat, boil it in water and drink its juice. (Simple single prescription)

③ Treat abdominal pain caused by stagnation: Drink the decoction of hawthorn alone. (Fangmai Zhengzong)

④ Treating dysentery with both red and white symptoms: stir-fry and grind hawthorn pulp into powder, take one or two coins each time, mix with honey for red dysentery, mix with red and white sugar for white dysentery, mix red and white symptoms with half honey and half sugar, mix well, mix with white soup, and take on an empty stomach. (Medical Notes)

⑤ Treat intestinal wind: burn the sour jujube and its pit into ashes, and take with rice water. (Bai Yi Xuan Fang)

⑥ Treating waist and leg pain in the elderly: Take equal parts of tangerine peel and deer antler (roasted). Grind into powder, make honey pills the size of walnuts, take 100 pills each time, twice a day. (Compendium of Materia Medica)

⑦ Treat lower abdominal pain caused by cold and dampness, and swelling and pain in the external kidney: fennel and persimmon hawthorn seeds. Grind them into fine powder, take one or two coins each time, mix with salt and wine, and take it hot on an empty stomach. ("Bai Yi Xuan Fang")

⑧ Treating postpartum women with persistent lochia, abdominal pain, or pain in the child's pillow: Crush 100 hawthorns, boil them into a decoction, add a little sugar, and drink it warm on an empty stomach. (Zhu Zhenheng)

Side effects and contraindications of hawthorn

1. Hawthorn should not be eaten with pork liver. Hawthorn is rich in vitamin C, and pork liver contains trace elements such as copper, iron, and zinc. Eating the two together will accelerate the oxidation of vitamin C and destroy it, reducing its nutritional value. Therefore, hawthorn and pork liver should not be eaten together.

2. Hawthorn should not be eaten together with fruits and vegetables containing vitamin C-degrading enzymes. Cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots and other fruits and vegetables contain vitamin C-degrading enzymes. Eating them with hawthorn will destroy the vitamin C in the hawthorn and reduce its nutritional value. Therefore, they should not be eaten together.

3. Hawthorn and seafood should not be eaten together. Seafood is rich in calcium, iron, carbon, iodine and other minerals and protein, while hawthorn contains tannic acid. If eaten with seafood, tannic acid protein will be synthesized. This substance can cause constipation and trigger symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, etc., so they should not be eaten together.

4. Hawthorn and vitamin K3 are incompatible. Vitamin K3 is a hemostatic drug, while hawthorn is a blood-activating drug. The vitamin C it contains is not conducive to the hemostatic effect of vitamin K3.

5. Children in the tooth replacement period should not eat too much hawthorn, as it will damage their teeth and have an adverse effect on the growth and development of their teeth.

6. Hawthorn can promote the contraction of women's uterus. Pregnant women who eat too much hawthorn may induce miscarriage, so it is not advisable to eat too much hawthorn.

How to eat hawthorn

1. Be careful when eating raw hawthorn. The tannic acid contained in raw hawthorn combines with gastric acid to easily form gastric stones, which are difficult to digest. If the gastric stones cannot be digested for a long time, it will cause gastric ulcers, gastric bleeding and even gastric perforation. Therefore, you should try to eat less raw hawthorn, especially those with weak gastrointestinal function should be more cautious. Doctors recommend that it is best to cook hawthorn before eating.

2. Hawthorn cannot be eaten on an empty stomach.