Video: Herbs in Chinese Medicine: Dang Gui

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Dang Gui is a traditional Chinese herb that's sometimes used to help with menstrual problems. Learn more about Dang Gui from a registered herbalist in this free alternative medicine video.

Video Transcript

The next herb we are going to talk about is Dang Gui. A lot of people are familiar with this herb as something that may be beneficial for tonifying the blood, some people use it for menstrual problems in particular for no menses or light menses and it is sometimes added to some formulas for menopause although that is not its primary use in Chinese medicine. The Dang Gui is kind of unique and it starts to explain to us some of the ways that we use Chinese herbs in Chinese medicine because we say that different parts of a plant may have slightly different functions. So we talk about its main function is building the blood or tonifying the blood and I have actually seen it raise red blood cell counts on people who are anemic. But then we have other functions in it and we say it moves the blood. So the different parts of the plant have different functions. So the very head of the plant which is where the leafy part meets the root part we call that Dang Gui Tou and so we say that part tonifys the blood really really well and so that builds blood. Then we say the legs of it, the little tails that are hanging off the body of it we call Dang Gui Wei. Dang Gui Wei has got a stronger blood invigorating function. Then we talk about the body eh, it's 50/50 so we can use the whole thing and get a little bit of building and a little bit of moving or we can actually break off the pieces of the herb and use the part that we want most strongly emphasized. It is important to be careful with this herb if you are on any blood thinners because it may have a slight blood thinning property to it that can be beneficial. So try some Dan Gui added to your chicken soup and enjoy it.

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Herbs in Chinese Medicine: Dang Gui

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