People should be cautious about the side effects of Codonopsis

Everyone is taking some tonic medicine, but as the saying goes, all medicine is poisonous. So no matter whether the tonic is good or bad, we should try to eat less. Codonopsis also has some side effects. You cannot blindly eat whatever you think is good. Good things should be consumed at the right time and under the right physical condition. So what are the side effects of Codonopsis?

1. Codonopsis pilosula is a Qi-tonifying medicine. It has basically no side effects when taken normally. However, if it is used for too long or in too large a dosage, it will damage the body's positive Qi and produce dryness due to excessive Qi-tonifying.

2. Toxic side effects

The median lethal dose of Codonopsis pilosula decoction administered orally to mice was 240.3 g/kg. The median lethal dose of total glycosides from the underground parts of Codonopsis pilosula when administered orally to mice is 2.7 g/kg. The median lethal dose of Codonopsis injection injected intraperitoneally to mice is 79.21±3.6g (raw drug)/kg, which is 317 times the usual oral dose for humans. The median lethal dose of Codonopsis pilosula injected intraperitoneally to mice is 666mg/kg~778mg/kg. Codonopsis pilosula has very low toxicity. Rats were given subcutaneous injections of 0.5 g of Codonopsis pilosula injection every day for 13 consecutive days, and no toxic reactions were observed; rabbits were given intraperitoneal injections of 1 g every day for 15 consecutive days, and no toxic reactions were observed.

3. Clinical application of this product

Generally there are no adverse reactions. If the dosage is too large (more than 60g per dose), it may cause precordial discomfort and arrhythmia, which will recover on their own after stopping the drug.

But Codonopsis also has great effects:

1. Adjust gastrointestinal motility function. Codonopsis pilosula is an important medicine for tonifying the middle and replenishing qi, and can correct pathological gastrointestinal motility disorders.

2. Anti-ulcer effect: Codonopsis pilosula decoction and alcohol precipitation has preventive and therapeutic effects on experimental gastric ulcers caused by stress, pylorus ligation, indomethacin or aspirin.

3. The anti-ulcer mechanism of Codonopsis pilosula: ① Inhibit gastric acid secretion and reduce gastric acidity; ② Promote the secretion of gastric mucus and enhance the gastric mucus-bicarbonate barrier; ③ Increase the content of endogenous prostaglandins (PGEZ) that have a protective effect on the gastric mucosa.

4. Codonopsis extract can enhance the ability of peritoneal macrophages to phagocytize chicken red blood cells.