How to prepare Polygonatum sibiricum

Polygonatum sibiricum is a relatively rare Chinese medicinal material, so you may not have heard of its name in daily life. However, in traditional Chinese medicine, the medicinal value of Polygonatum sibiricum is very high. The main function of Polygonatum sibiricum is to nourish the spleen, produce body fluid and moisten the lungs. Since Polygonatum sibiricum is a tuberous Chinese medicinal material, using Polygonatum sibiricum to make medicinal wine can fully bring out its medicinal value. Next, I will introduce to you the method of brewing Polygonatum sibiricum.

1. Treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis: Take Polygonatum sibiricum, steam and dry it, wash and chop it, add 5 times the amount of water, simmer it over low heat for 24 hours, filter out the residue, and then simmer the filtrate over low heat, stirring constantly, until it becomes an extract, cool, and bottle it for later use. Generally, 5 jin of polygonatum can be used to make 1 jin of polygonatum extract, and each milliliter is equivalent to 5g of polygonatum. Dosage: 4 times a day, 10 ml each time. 19 cases were clinically observed, all of which were infiltrative pulmonary tuberculosis, including 9 cases in the infiltrative stage, 2 cases in the infiltrative dissolution stage, 1 case each in the dissolution and dissemination stage and the absorption and improvement stage, and 6 cases in the quiescent stage. There were 11 cases with bilateral lesions and 6 cases with cavities. After taking Polygonatum sibiricum extract alone for 2 months, the lesions were completely absorbed in 4 cases, the absorption was improved in 12 cases, and there was no change in 3 cases. There were 6 cavities, 2 closures and 4 reductions to varying degrees. Sputum bacterial examination turned negative in most cases; ESR returned to normal in most cases. Body weight and clinical symptoms also improved.

2. Treatment of ringworm: Take Polygonatum sibiricum, mash it, soak it in 95% alcohol for 1-2 days, distill off most of the alcohol, concentrate it, add 3 times of water, precipitate it, take the filtrate, evaporate the rest of the alcohol, concentrate it to a thin paste, which is the crude liquid of Polygonatum sibiricum. Apply directly to the affected area, twice a day. It generally has certain therapeutic effects on tinea pedis and tinea lumbaris, especially on the blister and erosive types of tinea pedis. The efficacy for the keratinized type of tinea pedis is poor, which may be because the fungus is located in the thicker keratinized epidermis, and Polygonatum sibiricum has no ability to exfoliate or penetrate the epidermis. The crude liquid of Polygonatum sibiricum is painless when applied, and no adverse reactions are observed. The disadvantage is that it is easy to stain clothes.

[Modern research] Polygonatum contains a variety of polysaccharides, amino acids, mucus, etc. Modern research shows that the total polysaccharide content in raw Polygonatum is 11.74%, while the total polysaccharide content in processed Polygonatum is 3.77%. This result is related to the fact that a large amount of mucus is removed during the processing of Polygonatum sibiricum. Studies have shown that the total sugar content of Polygonatum sibiricum slightly decreases after processing, while the reducing sugar increases by more than 80%, the mucopolysaccharides are hydrolyzed into oligosaccharides and monosaccharides in large quantities; the free amino acids increase from 4 to 10; the water and alcohol extracts increase significantly; during the processing process, the appearance of Polygonatum sibiricum that is steamed and baked once meets the traditional quality requirements, and the yield is high. Increasing the number of steaming and baking times will affect the appearance and properties, reduce the yield, and be labor-intensive and time-consuming. The content of extract, total sugar and reducing sugar will all show a decreasing trend. This research result shows that it is best to prepare Polygonatum sibiricum by steaming and baking it once.

A comparison was made between Polygonatum sibiricum steamed with 20% wine and Polygonatum sibiricum steamed and dried nine times. The results showed that the former still had a numbing taste, while the numbing taste of the latter basically disappeared after the fourth steaming. It is believed that it can be used clinically after being steamed and dried for the fifth time. Some people have proposed improvements to the preparation method of Polygonatum sibiricum, believing that the traditional steaming method takes too long, and suggest using the "moisten-steam-and-simmer" method to prepare Polygonatum sibiricum, namely: take clean Polygonatum sibiricum, add water and mix well to moisten it, steam it on high heat for 2 hours, pour water once so that all the Polygonatum sibiricum is soaked with water, then steam it for another 24 hours, turn off the heat, simmer overnight, take out, and dry to obtain the product. The toxicity of Polygonatum sibiricum decreases after processing. The extract contents of steamed and wine-steamed products with the same processing time are very similar, with the same appearance and properties. The toxicity is lower than that of the raw product, and the content of water and alcohol extracts is higher than that of the raw product. The increase increases with the extension of steaming time, and is most obvious after steaming for 10 hours. Therefore, steaming with clear water can be used instead of steaming with wine, but further research is needed from many aspects.