{ "slug": "bao-he-wan", "names": { "pinyin": "Bao He Wan", "chinese": "保和丸", "english": "Preserve Harmony Pill", "alternate": [ "Bao He Tang", "Citrus and Crataegus Formula", "Preserve Harmony Teapills" ] }, "category": "reduce-food-stagnation", "source": { "text": "Dan Xi Xin Fa (Teachings of Zhu Dan-xi)", "author": "Zhu Zhen-heng", "dynasty": "Yuan", "year": "1481" }, "summary": "The formula for a stuffed stomach. For food that sits after overeating: fullness and bloating, sour belching, acid, nausea, no wish to eat, and loose stools or constipation, with a thick greasy coat. Seven herbs that digest the backlog and move it along. The day-after-the-feast formula.", "picture": "A kitchen sink with last night's dinner still in it. Hawthorn and leaven break it up, radish seed and tangerine peel pull the plug, and forsythia keeps it from fermenting into heat on the way out.", "patterns": [ { "slug": "food-stagnation", "role": "primary", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/food-stagnation", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/food-stagnation" } }, { "slug": "spleen-dampness", "role": "with food backlog", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-dampness", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-dampness" } } ], "indications": [ "Fullness and bloating after overeating", "Sour belching, acid, a rotten taste", "Nausea, vomiting undigested food", "No appetite, aversion to food", "Loose foul stools or constipation after a heavy meal", "Indigestion in a child who ate too much", "Bad breath with a thick coat" ], "signs": { "tongue": "Thick greasy coat, white or yellow.", "pulse": "Slippery." }, "ingredients": [ { "pinyin": "Shan Zha", "grams": "18", "role": "chief", "job": "Hawthorn digests meat and greasy food.", "herb_slug": "hawthorn-fruit", "english": "Hawthorn Fruit", "chinese": "山楂", "latin": "Fructus Crataegi", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/hawthorn-fruit", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/hawthorn-fruit" } }, { "pinyin": "Shen Qu", "grams": "6", "role": "deputy", "job": "Medicated leaven digests grains and alcohol.", "herb_slug": "medicated-leaven-3", "english": "Medicated Leaven", "chinese": "神曲", "latin": "Massa Fermentata Medicinalis", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/medicated-leaven-3", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/medicated-leaven-3" } }, { "pinyin": "Lai Fu Zi", "grams": "3", "role": "deputy", "job": "Radish seed digests starches and moves the stuck food down.", "herb_slug": "radish-seed", "english": "Radish Seed", "chinese": "莱菔子", "latin": "Semen Raphani", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/radish-seed", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/radish-seed" } }, { "pinyin": "Ban Xia", "grams": "9", "role": "assistant", "job": "Processed pinellia settles nausea and clears damp.", "herb_slug": "tuber-of-pinellia", "english": "Raw Pinellia Tuber", "chinese": "半夏", "latin": "Rhizoma Pinelliae", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/tuber-of-pinellia", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/tuber-of-pinellia" } }, { "pinyin": "Chen Pi", "grams": "3", "role": "assistant", "job": "Tangerine peel moves qi and dries damp.", "herb_slug": "dried-tangerine-peel", "english": "Dried Tangerine Peel", "chinese": "陈皮", "latin": "Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/dried-tangerine-peel", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/dried-tangerine-peel" } }, { "pinyin": "Fu Ling", "grams": "9", "role": "assistant", "job": "Poria drains damp and firms the stool.", "herb_slug": "indian-bread", "english": "Poria", "chinese": "茯苓", "latin": "Poria", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/indian-bread", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/indian-bread" } }, { "pinyin": "Lian Qiao", "grams": "3", "role": "assistant", "job": "Forsythia clears the heat that stuck food ferments into.", "herb_slug": "weeping-forsythia-capsule", "english": "Weeping Forsythia Capsule", "chinese": "连翘", "latin": "Fructus Forsythiae", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/weeping-forsythia-capsule", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/weeping-forsythia-capsule" } } ], "actions": [ "Reduces food stagnation and harmonizes the Stomach" ], "how_it_works": "Three digesters, each for a different kind of food: hawthorn for meat and fat, leaven for grain and drink, radish seed for starch and gas. Pinellia and tangerine peel settle and move. Poria drains. A little forsythia stops the pile from heating. It is the plainest formula in the pharmacy and one of the most useful.", "modifications": [ { "for": "Constipation with the fullness", "add": [ "Da Huang", "Bing Lang" ], "note": "Rhubarb and areca to move the bowel." }, { "for": "A weak Spleen underneath", "add": [ "Bai Zhu" ], "note": "This becomes Da An Wan, for a child who is both weak and stuffed." }, { "for": "Heat with a yellow coat", "add": [ "Huang Lian" ], "note": "A pinch of coptis." } ], "cautions": [ "For the stuffed stomach, not the weak one. If there is no backlog, it has nothing to do and can wear the Spleen down.", "Short courses: a few days after overeating, then stop.", "Pinellia must be processed.", "Pregnancy: use only under a qualified practitioner." ], "forms": [ "teapills", "concentrated tablets", "granules" ], "typical_dose": { "teapills": "8 pills, three times a day after meals, the usual label dose", "course": "One to five days." }, "cousins": [ { "slug": "ping-wei-san", "difference": "Dries damp in the stomach rather than digesting food. For heaviness and a greasy coat without the sour belching." }, { "slug": "xiang-sha-liu-jun-zi-tang", "difference": "For the weak, bloated stomach that cannot keep up; tonifies rather than digests." } ], "commerce": { "store": "supplementsapothecary.com", "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary", "store_slug": "bao-he-wan", "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/bao-he-wan", "status": "planned", "label_check": "The box reads Bao He Wan with the characters 保和丸. Seven ingredients led by Hawthorn, with Medicated leaven and Radish seed." }, "conditions": [ "indigestion", "dyspepsia", "abdominal-distension", "acid-reflux", "nausea", "constipation", "diarrhea" ], "sources": [ { "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition", "note": "Composition, actions, indications, and modifications." } ], "meta": { "status": "published", "last_updated": "2026-10-12", "reviewed_by": null }, "_links": { "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/bao-he-wan", "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/bao-he-wan", "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas" } }