#来点儿干货#
Using the root of astragalus into medicine is a common treatment method in traditional Chinese medicine. "Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica" and "Compendium of Materia Medica" all regard astragalus as a good medicine for invigorating qi and replenishing deficiency. Modern medical research has also found that astragalus is rich in folic acid, amino acids, choline, flavanic compounds and other organic compounds, which have repair and protective effects on the human liver and white blood cells in the blood, and are good medicines for health care.
But it is such a "harmless to humans and animals" traditional Chinese medicine, but recently it has been labeled by many people as "hurting the kidneys" and "soaking in water and drinking is harmful".
Let's go and see what's going on?
1. Astragalus hurts the kidneys, is there such a thing?
Many people like to use astragalus to soak in water and drink, and usually come to warm a few pots when they have nothing to do, just like making tea. Aunt Zhang, who has retired, is like this, she goes to square dance with her good friends every day, and when she is tired, she drinks a few sips of the prepared astragalus water. Basically, I have to drink it every day, and it's such a habit that Aunt Zhang has insisted on for several years.
But in the recent period, a friend who danced square dance with Aunt Zhang said that he was uncomfortable, saying that he was particularly frequent and urgent every night and a little nauseous. The results came out and showed that Aunt Zhang's friend had inflammation in his kidney.
After the examination and prescription of medicine, Aunt Zhang accompanied her friend to walk and chat, and both of them were wondering how to do well, there was a problem with the kidney?
Aunt Zhang's friend was thinking about what she ate and drank a day, and after thinking about it, she pointed the finger at astragalus, because like Aunt Zhang, she also had to drink astragalus water almost every day. Aunt Zhang's friend thinks that she drank astragalus water to cause nephritis.
So what is the truth? Does astragalus really hurt the kidneys?
2. Truth: Astragalus not only does not harm the kidneys, but also has many benefits for the human body
Is astragalus really the culprit that causes kidney disease?
The answer is definitely no, our ancestors have eaten astragalus for thousands of years, if astragalus is really harmful, people in ancient times would not have passed it on. In fact, for astragalus, the method and dosage are considered, and astragalus cannot be confused with ordinary food, and of course, it cannot be said that astragalus is harmful to the kidneys.
In fact, astragalus not only does not cause harm to the kidneys, but also has a lot of benefits to the kidneys, many studies have shown that the triterpene saponins, flavonoids, polysaccharides and other compounds in astragalus have a strong effect on anti-fibrosis of human organs, including renal fibrosis, liver fibrosis, cardiac fibrosis, etc. The new drugs developed by researchers using the active ingredients in astragalus combined with Western medicine are also a powerful weapon against kidney disease.
Moreover, the mild mechanism of action of astragalus can also neutralize the toxicity of some Western drugs, such as hydroxychloroquine, which is a common Western drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in the medical community. In a scientific trial, 80 subjects with diabetes were divided into three groups, one group with conventional treatment + hydroxychloroquine, the second group with conventional treatment + hydroxychloroquine + astragalus tablets, and the third group with conventional treatment.
The results after three months of the study showed that the two groups treated with hydroxychloroquine + astragalus tablets had the best effect, with the lowest levels of urine protein and HbA1c, and the highest treatment efficiency of 88.89%.
To sum up, hydroxychloroquine combined with astragalus has a significant therapeutic effect on type 2 diabetes, and has a good effect on the control of blood sugar and blood lipid content in the human body, and can effectively inhibit the spread of kidney disease.
Third, we must remember that these traditional Chinese medicines are particularly unfriendly to the kidneys
So what are the drugs that really harm our kidneys?
To understand clearly, let's first look at what is a kidney and what is it used for?
Our kidneys are located on both sides of the spine, close to the posterior wall of the abdomen, behind the peritoneum. It is shaped like a broad bean, composed of more than 1 million nephrons, and its blood flow accounts for about 1/4 of the body, making it an extremely important organ of the human body. It has an irreplaceable effect on the adjustment of electrolyte concentration, acid-base balance and endocrine function in the human body.
There are many traditional Chinese medicines that have specific damage to the kidneys, and they are divided into three categories, you can carefully distinguish them, if there is any of the following Chinese medicines that you eat, you should follow the doctor's instructions and not abuse them.
The first type is botanical traditional Chinese medicine, and like astragalus, many traditional Chinese medicines are extracted from the roots, stems and leaves of plants, such as aristolochia, Chuanwu, cottonseed, and crowberry gall...... If these traditional Chinese medicines are consumed for a long time, it will put a great burden on the kidneys, and the kidney toxins produced cannot be excreted from the body, and malignant lesions will occur over time.
In particular, aristolochia, in 2002, the World Health Organization's cancer research agency has included aristolochin in the list of carcinogens, which contains aristolochic acid can damage cell DNA to induce gene mutations, increasing the risk of tumors.
It can also react in the kidneys, epithelial cells and fibroblasts, and aristolochic acid will attach to it to produce oxidative stress, damaging the kidneys, leading to nephritis, renal fibrosis and other complications of kidney disease.
If you are currently consuming Aristolochia, please pay attention to your body's reaction, and if you have symptoms such as diarrhea, blood in the stool, drowsiness, etc., please consult your doctor immediately to prevent and control the damage of Aristolochia to your kidneys.
The second type is animal traditional Chinese medicine, they are all dried animal bodies, such as centipedes, scorpions, seahorses, toads, etc., generally themselves are toxic, especially centipede belongs to one of the five poisons, it contains toxic animal protein is aggressive to the kidneys, can weaken the activity of kidney cells, inhibit the operation of cells, if the patient itself has renal insufficiency, when choosing these traditional Chinese medicines, it should be used under the guidance of doctors to avoid side effects.
The third category is mineral traditional Chinese medicine, they are extracted minerals from rocks, such as mercury, cinnabar, arsenic, realgar, etc., 80% of the metal elements in our human body are stored in the kidneys, if the heavy metal elements exceed the standard, they will spread to other kidney cells and combine with various active enzymes to make kidney cells inactive, which leads to the imbalance of various electrolyte concentrations and leads to a large number of cell necrosis, which eventually leads to acute renal failure, and the consequences are unimaginable.
Fourth, although astragalus is good, it is not suitable for everyone, and we must learn to screen it
Everything has two sides, we just said that there are so many advantages of astragalus, in fact, we should also look at it dialectically, "although this thing is good", remember not to overdo it.
Astragalus membranaceus invigorates yang and gathers qi, the medicinal properties are sweet, the character is slightly warm, people who are easy to get angry or people who have strong yang fire in the body should avoid drinking astragalus; inflammatory patients such as tracheitis and pharyngitis, the coexistence of false fire and real fire in the body, can not use astragalus; there are some special groups such as pregnant women and patients with high blood pressure, if they drink astragalus, they may have many adverse reactions such as sudden increase in blood pressure and vigorous qi and blood.
Astragalus does deserve the title of "Shennong's Materia Medica" as "top grade", not only has many uses in our daily life, but also continues to surprise us in the field of medicine, as long as we follow the doctor's instructions to use drugs rationally, the rumors that astragalus soaked in water and drink the kidneys will be self-defeating, and discerning other Chinese medicines that harm the kidneys, so that our kidneys will get better and better, more and more healthy.