Long touted for its healing qualities, this classic herbal tisane is a mixture of bitter and sweet. While its primary action focuses on liver detoxification, modern research suggests its utility in a variety of circumstances. These studies have found it to be anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-stress, anti-anxiety, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, anti-gall stone, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, atheroprotective, immunomodulatory, adaptogenic, and prebiotic. This research suggests it may be helpful in prevention and/or treatment of disorders such as hepatitis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, asthma, peptic ulcer, anxiety, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and gall stones. Often known as the "immortal herb," jiao gu lan, or gynostemma, as it's known in English, also helps to balance blood sugar and lipid levels and enhances exercise performance. (For a sampling of this research, please see links at bottom of listing.) In Chinese medicine, it is considered to be sweet, bitter and cool. Affecting the spleen and kidney channels, primarily, its actions are to clear heat, resolve toxicity, eliminate phlegm, and stop coughing. As a part of this modality, it is often used in cases of restless, insomnia, hypertension, viral hepatitis, hyperlipidemia, chronic bronchitis, chronic gastroenteritis, dizziness, and digestive cancers. It should be noted, however, that proper treatment of any of these disorders with herbs should be done under the guidance of a Chinese medicine practitioner, as treatment strategies vary according to the specific Chinese medicine diagnosis, since a single western condition can have a number of different possible diagnoses according to Chinese medicine. Dry, this herb carries a sweet, earthy, alfalfa aroma, with elements of apricot fruit leather, loquat, peaches, and hawthorne. This fluffy herb has stems and leaves that are curly, long, and tangled, resembling tea very little, aside from their seaweed green coloration. Wet, its small, neon green leaves and long, spindly stems have an herbaceous fragrance, reminiscent of buttered popcorn, grass, seaweed, and gyokuro. Its vegetal flavor is very light, with a hint of dandelion bitterness that quickly transitions into a licorice root, honey, and kettle corn sweetness that lingers long on the lips and palate. This silky smooth tisane has an olive oil grassiness, and coats the mouth and throat in a soothing fashion. Its effects are sobering, cooling, and detoxifying. Lasts 3-8 brews.Price is per 50 grams (1.76 oz)Some studies on jiao gu lan: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8907712/https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.917521/fullhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13020-016-0114-9https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9149325/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-57716-5https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsomega.0c02180https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-016-4357-zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10756109/https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/ijmm.2021.4979
