Qi and blood deficiency troubles many women. Beyond incorporating blood-nourishing foods into daily diets, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners also recommend herbal remedies to address this imbalance.Let's explore how herbal formulas regulate qi and blood:
7 Herbs for Regulating Qi and Blood
1. Astragalus (Huangqi)
Astragalus is the dried root of the leguminous plant Astragalus membranaceus. The best quality roots are yellowish-white in flesh, firm yet easily broken, rich in powder, sweet in taste, and free of black or hollow centers.
Astragalus is slightly warm in nature and sweet in taste. It functions to tonify qi and elevate yang, fortify the exterior, expel toxins and promote tissue regeneration, promote diuresis and reduce swelling. It is suitable for spontaneous sweating, night sweats, blood stasis, edema, painful abscesses that fail to ulcerate, internal injury from fatigue, spleen deficiency with diarrhea, prolapsed rectum, and all conditions of qi deficiency and blood deficiency.When decocted, use 9–30 grams per dose. Contraindicated for conditions with real heat symptoms such as high fever, intense thirst, or constipation.
2. Ginseng
One of the most important and valuable qi-tonifying herbs, it has a sweet and slightly bitter taste with a mildly warm nature. It profoundly replenishes original qi, enhances intelligence, and calms the spirit, making it an excellent tonic for health preservation.
For stewing, the typical dosage is 3–9 grams;simmer over low heat for over an hour to extract active components and ensure efficacy. For ingestion, dry and grind into fine powder; use 1–2 grams per dose. For wine infusion, chop ginseng, steep in quality rice wine for about one month before consumption; take two tablespoons twice daily.
3. American Ginseng
Also known as Panax quinquefolius, American ginseng primarily originates from the United States and Canada. Varieties cultivated in China are called transplanted ginseng. Its root is used medicinally as a precious herb, renowned for its mild tonic and health-preserving properties. It is suitable for those who require ginseng benefits but cannot tolerate the warming nature of Korean ginseng.
American ginseng has a sweet taste with slight bitterness. It functions to tonify qi, nourish yin, clear heat, and generate fluids. It is suitable for conditions such as lung deficiency with chronic cough, prolonged coughing, wheezing, hemoptysis, and lung atrophy with loss of voice. Taking 1–3 grams of this herb, decocted in water as a tea substitute, has a throat-moistening and voice-beautifying effect. Opera and singing performers often drink it for vocal health maintenance.American ginseng is also an excellent choice for athletic recovery. It is suitable for fatigue, dry mouth, thirst, and profuse sweating following strenuous activity. For use, grind into a fine powder and take 1–1.5 grams per dose with warm water. Alternatively, decoct 1.5–3 grams per dose. Store in a sealed container after drying to prevent spoilage and insect infestation, or keep in a cool, dry place.This product should not be used with Lepidium sativum. Those with deficiency-cold conditions should avoid it.
4. Codonopsis (Dangshen)
This herb is neutral in nature and sweet in taste. It functions to tonify the middle energizer and replenish qi, generate fluids, and nourish blood. It is commonly used for fatigue and weakness due to qi deficiency, shortness of breath and palpitations, poor appetite and loose stools, thirst from both qi and fluid depletion, pallor and dizziness from both qi and blood deficiency, as well as post-illness weakness and malnutrition.
For wine infusion: Chop Codonopsis and steep in 1 jin (approx. 500g) of rice wine or white liquor for one month. Take 2-3 tablespoons three times daily. For decoction: Use 9-15g per dose, taken orally. Contraindicated with Liriope.
5. Licorice (Gan Cao)
Traditional Chinese medicine classifies it as neutral in nature and sweet in taste. Its functions include tonifying the spleen and harmonizing the middle burner, alleviating urgency and relieving pain, moistening the lungs and stopping cough, detoxifying, and harmonizing other herbs. It is indicated for spleen-stomach deficiency, epigastric and abdominal pain, cough, palpitations, sores and swellings, and poisoning.
Dosage: 1.5–9 grams. Avoid concurrent use with Euphorbia, Stramonium, Euphorbia humifusa, or Sargassum.
6. Codonopsis pilosula (Prince Ginseng)
Traditional Chinese medicine considers it neutral in nature, sweet and slightly bitter in taste. It functions to tonify the lungs and strengthen the spleen, benefit qi and generate fluids. It can be used for conditions such as poor appetite due to spleen qi deficiency, fatigue, and emaciation in children; lung deficiency cough, spontaneous sweating, palpitations, thirst due to fluid deficiency, and deficiency of both qi and yin after illness.
Dosage: 9–30 grams per use. Protect from mold by storing in a dry, well-ventilated area or sealing after drying.
7. Atractylodes Macrocephala (Bai Zhu)
Traditional Chinese medicine considers it warm in nature, sweet and bitter in taste. It functions to tonify qi and strengthen the spleen, dry dampness and promote diuresis, stop sweating, and stabilize pregnancy. It is used for spleen qi deficiency manifesting as poor appetite, loose stools, fatigue, shortness of breath, and spontaneous sweating; spleen deficiency with impaired transformation and transport leading to phlegm-fluid retention and edema; and pregnancy-related spleen qi deficiency causing fetal instability and foot swelling.
Dosage: 5–15 grams. Contraindicated for yin deficiency with internal heat, fluid depletion, smooth tongue coating, dry lips, and dry mouth.
Recommended TCM Formulas:
Qi and Blood Tonifying Formula I: 15g Codonopsis, 15g Astragalus, 15g Poria,12g Atractylodes macrocephala, 10g Fried Licorice, 5 pitted red dates, 30g Glutinous Rice Root. Decoct and take internally. For dietary therapy, use 9g Korean Ginseng and 50g chicken meat, double-boil and consume. For heat-prone constitutions, use 5g Jilin Red Ginseng, 9g American Ginseng, 9g Longan Meat, 50g lean pork. Double-boil and consume.
Qi and Blood Tonifying Formula II: Use 15g Codonopsis, 15g Astragalus, 15g Poria, 12g Atractylodes, 10g Angelica, 6g Ligusticum, 9g Paeonia, 15g Rehmannia, and 3g Cinnamon bark. Steep and consume.Dietary therapy: Use 9g Korean ginseng, 5g deer antler, and 100g chicken meat. Simmer over water and consume. Alternatively, use 15g Codonopsis, 15g Astragalus, 10g donkey-hide gelatin, 15g Goji berries, and 100g chicken meat. Simmer over water and consume.Alternatively, stew 10g Angelica sinensis, 15g Astragalus membranaceus, 12g Lycium barbarum, 12g longan aril, 3 slices ginger, 5 pitted red dates, and 1 or half placenta.6g Ligusticum, 12g white peony root, 30g chicken blood vine, 12g Polygonum multiflorum, and 12g goji berries. Simmer in water and consume orally. For dietary therapy, use 12g angelica root, 12g goji berries, and 12g longan flesh to stew with one fresh egg.Alternatively, take 6g deer gelatin, 6g donkey hide gelatin, and 100g chicken meat, steamed over water.
What to Eat for Qi and Blood Deficiency
Grains and Legumes: Choose mineral-rich foods like japonica rice, glutinous rice, millet, foxtail millet, barley, and buckwheat to tonify qi; iron-rich foods like purple rice and black rice, rich in polysaccharides, are excellent for nourishing blood.
Vegetable choices: For qi tonification, select foods rich in B vitamins like Chinese yam, potatoes, pumpkin, winter bamboo shoots, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and lentils. For blood tonification, choose foods rich in mucopolysaccharides, folic acid, and alkaloids such as black fungus, wood ear fungus, daylily buds, spinach, carrots, lotus root, and hair moss.
Meat, Egg, and Dairy Choices: Chicken, goose, beef, rabbit, dog meat, quail, pheasant, pork stomach, grass carp, silver carp, knifefish, pomfret, octopus, and donkey meat—rich in thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin—aid in qi replenishment.Pork, lamb, beef, pork liver, lamb liver, beef liver, pork blood, duck blood, soft-shelled turtle, croaker, mandarin fish, yellow croaker, octopus, conger eel, eel, squid, sea cucumber, clam meat, hairtail, etc., rich in protein and alkaloids, are beneficial for blood replenishment.
Fruits: Foods rich in trace elements like jujubes and coconuts have special efficacy for replenishing qi; foods abundant in folic acid, niacin, and flavonoids such as mulberries, lychees, longan meat, jujubes, and raisins are beneficial for replenishing blood.