What are the four properties and five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine?

In fact, the food we often talk about in life all has four properties and five flavors. In fact, the four properties and five flavors we mentioned originally refer to the medicinal properties and taste of traditional Chinese medicine. The "four properties" refer to cold, hot, cool, and warm, and the "five flavors" refer to sour, bitter, salty, sweet, and spicy. So what is the meaning of this? How should we distinguish between the food we usually eat and traditional Chinese medicine? Regarding the explanation of the four properties and five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine, the following article will introduce them to you one by one.

1. The spicy taste has a numbing or cooling feeling, and some have fragrance. It can disperse and relieve exterior symptoms, promote qi and blood circulation, warm the kidney and strengthen yang. It is suitable for exogenous symptoms, qi stagnation and blood stasis, wind-cold arthritis, kidney yang deficiency, etc. Such as Schizonepeta, Perilla, Tangerine Peel, Costus Root, Angelica Sinensis, Curcuma Radix, Allium Seed, Cnidium monnieri, Cuscuta Aucklandiae, etc.

2. Sweet taste can harmonize the spleen and stomach, replenish qi and blood, relieve pain, and is suitable for symptoms of weakness, insufficient function, and certain cramps and spasms. It can also harmonize the properties of medicines, such as licorice, codonopsis, rehmannia, maltose, polygonatum, wolfberry, etc.

3. The sour (astringent) taste has astringent and firming effects, and is suitable for symptoms such as spontaneous sweating, night sweats, chronic diarrhea and prolapse of the anus, frequent urination and incontinence, spermatorrhea, leukorrhea, and metrorrhagia. Such as dragon bones, oysters, cornus officinalis, red stone fingers, Yu Yuliang, poppy shells, mulberry butterfly octopus, raspberries, water chestnuts, lotus seeds, golden cherry fruits, old palm charcoal, and crane fruits.

4. Bitter taste can clear away heat, detoxify, dry dampness, purge fire, reduce qi, and promote bowel movements. It is suitable for fever, damp-heat syndrome, carbuncles, ulcers, wheezing, cough, nausea, etc., such as Gardenia, Rhubarb, Coptis chinensis, Sophora flavescens, Apricot kernel, Magnolia officinalis, etc.

5. Salty taste can soften and disperse lumps, promote bowel movements, calm the liver and suppress yang. It is suitable for constipation, scrofula, phlegm nodules, goiter, and liver yang headache and dizziness, such as seaweed, kelp, Glauber's salt, Cistanche, antelope horn, and Semen Cassiae.

The above is a brief introduction to the “five flavors” of traditional Chinese medicine. I hope it can provide some guidance for everyone’s use of medicine.

The above article introduces the four properties and five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, traditional Chinese medicine is divided into various properties. Each property is different, so the effects produced are also different. For many young friends in daily life, if they want to use traditional Chinese medicine, they must choose the right medicine.