Can I still eat Chinese medicine after it has been stored for a year?

As the old saying goes, who can avoid the cycle of life and death when people eat grains? Getting sick is an inevitable thing in our daily life. When we are sick, we need to take some medicine for treatment to help us recover as soon as possible. In addition to the many common medicines in our modern science, Chinese herbal medicine is also a very famous one among them.

There is one thing about Chinese herbal medicine that is incredible, that is, some of them can still be taken after being stored for decades, and the actual effect is still very good. This can't help but make people worry, do Chinese herbal medicines have a shelf life? If so, how long can it be stored? Let’s find out together.

Do Chinese herbal medicines have a shelf life?

In fact, regarding the shelf life of traditional Chinese medicine, it can be said that some Chinese herbal medicines themselves do not have a strict shelf life. This is because Chinese herbal medicines come from everything in our world, from plants to animals, to ore, which are all sources of Chinese medicines. If they belong to the ore class, their ingredients are relatively stable and their color is relatively hard. As long as they are well stored, they can still have medicinal properties after ten years. It is actually not uncommon. There are also some Chinese herbal medicines, such as some plant herbal medicines, which can be used for five or six years without any problems as long as they are not moldy.

However, it should be noted that this does not mean that all Chinese medicinal materials can be stored for a long time. Chinese medicinal materials that are easy to evaporate, or contain ingredients such as oils and sugars may not be good to store for a long time, because these Chinese medicinal materials will cause the loss of ingredients after long-term storage, and will also produce oxidation reactions, thereby causing the reduction of medicinal power. For example, some Chinese medicinal materials such as rose, rose, peach kernel, etc. are generally not recommended for long-term storage, so as to avoid the loss of medicinal power and fail to achieve the desired effect.

Why are some medicines still usable after decades?

In fact, this is related to the characteristics of Chinese medicinal materials. Although iron ore-based Chinese medicinal materials generally do not exceed ten years, there are very few Chinese medicinal materials that can actually be stored for a very long time. Chinese medicine also believes that the longer these Chinese medicinal materials are stored, the better the actual effect. This is what many people say about Chinese medicinal materials that the older they are, the better. Among them, Poria cocos is a kind of Chinese medicinal material that can be stored for a long time, and the longer it is stored, the better.

There is a saying in Chinese medicine that one ounce of Poria cocos is worth one ounce of gold, and a hundred-year-old tangerine peel is worth more than gold. This actually shows the value of Poria cocos and that the older the Poria cocos is, the better the effect. At present, high-quality Poria cocos usually needs to be stored for more than ten years, and it is not uncommon for some Poria cocos to be as old as thirty-four years. However, one thing that needs to be noted is that most of the Poria cocos on the market now are about five or six years old, and Poria cocos that can reach this level is actually rare.