Although its appearance looks unremarkable, licorice has always been an indispensable traditional Chinese medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine. The ancients once said, "Among all kinds of medicine, licorice is the king, and its function is to harmonize all the medicines, so it is known as the old man of the country." This shows that the ancients attached great importance to licorice. In Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases written by the medical sage Zhang Zhongjing, nearly half of the prescriptions contain licorice. Why is licorice so favored by medical sages? This starts with the many beneficial effects of licorice.

1. Licorice is beneficial to the spleen and stomach.

Licorice, you can feel its sweet taste from its name. Licorice mainly has a sweet taste, and in traditional Chinese medicine, the sweet taste is the best to replenish deficiency, and the medicinal effects of licorice can enter the spleen and stomach, so licorice has a good effect on the spleen and stomach.

Especially for common situations in life such as poor appetite, inability to eat, general feeling of weakness, loose stools, etc. caused by weakness of the spleen and stomach, licorice can be used to replenish the spleen and stomach. For example, in traditional Chinese medicine, there is a prescription called Sijunzi Decoction, which uses Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria cocos, ginseng, and licorice to nourish the spleen and replenish qi.

2. Licorice can relieve cough and reduce phlegm.

I remember when I was a kid, the doctor always gave us a few licorice tablets every time we had a cold or cough. Although its taste is very bitter and difficult to swallow, it has a good relieving effect on coughs with excessive phlegm.

The taste of licorice is sweet and mild. When the medicinal effect enters the lung meridian, it can have a good effect of relieving cough and reducing phlegm. Moreover, whether the cough is caused by various reasons such as cold or heat, or deficiency or excess, licorice can relieve cough when used as medicine. For example, for common coughs caused by wind-cold, licorice can be used with ephedra; for coughs caused by wind-heat, licorice can be used with gypsum, etc.; and for coughs caused by weak lung qi, licorice can also be used Compatible with Astragalus.

3. Licorice can relieve pain and relieve pain.

Licorice tastes sweet and can relieve pain and relieve pain. Under the relatively low medical conditions in ancient times, people’s research level on various analgesics was also relatively low. Licorice has been used as a painkiller since ancient times.

Licorice is often used especially for acute pain in the body. For example, licorice is often used as medicine to relieve epigastric pain and pain in other parts of the body caused by blood stasis, blood deficiency, cold qi stagnation, etc. In "Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases", there is a famous prescription called Shaoyao Licorice Decoction, which uses white peony root and licorice as medicine, and its effect is very good in relieving pain and relieving pain.

4. Licorice can reconcile the biases of various drugs and alleviate various toxicities.

The reason why various medicines can have good medicinal value is because all medicines have "bias". For example, some are cold to dissipate heat, some are hot to dissipate cold, some are sour to reduce astringency, some are bitter to clear diarrhea, and some Chinese medicinal materials even have a certain degree of toxicity.

The bias of drugs can alleviate various diseases, but the reason why drugs are poisonous is also due to the bias of drugs. As for licorice, its taste is sweet and flat, and its effect is mild, which is very helpful in alleviating the bias and toxicity of various drugs. Therefore, the ancients said that licorice has the function of harmonizing the properties of various medicines, so they called it "Guo Lao".

In addition, licorice also has a certain effect in relieving some minor drug and food poisoning. If these emergencies occur in life, and you are in a hurry and cannot find a solution, you can use licorice decoction to alleviate the toxicity before seeking medical treatment.