Dong quai has been used either alone or in combination with other Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs to help relieve painful menstrual cramps. Many women take 3–4 grams per day. A Japanese herbal formulation known as toki-shakuyaku-san combines peony root (Paeonia spp.) with dong quai and four other herbs and has been found to effectively reduce symptoms of cramping and pain associated with dysmenorrhea.¹⁷

 

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, dong quai is rarely used alone and is typically used in combination with herbs such as peony (Paeonia officinalis) and osha (Ligusticum porteri) for menopausal symptoms as well as for menstrual cramps.¹⁸ However, no clinical trials have been completed to determine the effectiveness of dong quai for PMS.

Peony shows some weak estrogen-like effects, acting like a very weak anti-estrogen, particularly as part of the formula shakuyaku-kanzo-to. In a preliminary study, this formula was shown to improve fertility in women affected by polycystic ovary syndrome.¹⁹

 

Dong quai has been used either alone or in combination with other Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs to help relieve painful menstrual cramps. Many women take 3–4 grams per day. A Japanese herbal formulation known as toki-shakuyaku-san combines peony root (Paeonia spp.) with dong quai and four other herbs and has been found to effectively reduce symptoms of cramping and pain associated with dysmenorrhea.²⁰

 

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, dong quai is rarely used alone and is typically used in combination with herbs such as peony (Paeonia officinalis) and osha (Ligusticum porteri) for menopausal symptoms as well as for menstrual cramps.²¹ However, no clinical trials have been completed to determine the effectiveness of dong quai for PMS.

 

Turmeric’s active compound curcumin has shown potent anti-platelet activity in animal studies.²² It has also demonstrated this effect in preliminary human studies.²³ In a similar vein, bilberry has been shown to prevent platelet aggregation²⁴ as has peony.²⁵ However, none of these three herbs has been documented to help atherosclerosis in human trials.

 

The Japanese herbal formula known as sho-seiryu-to has been shown to reduce symptom, such as sneezing, for people with hay fever.²⁶ Sho-seiryu-to contains licorice, cassia bark, schisandra, ma huang, ginger, peony root, pinellia, and asiasarum root.

 

The Chinese herb bupleurum, as part of the herbal formula sho-saiko-to, has been shown to have beneficial immune effects on white blood cells taken from people infected with HIV.²⁷ Sho-saiko-to has also been shown to improve the efficacy of the anti-HIV drug lamivudine in the test tube.²⁸ One preliminary study found that 7 of 13 people with HIV given sho-saiko-to had improvements in immune function.²⁹ Double-blind trials are needed to determine whether bupleurum or sho-saiko-to might benefit people with HIV infection or AIDS. Other herbs in sho-saiko-to have also been shown to have anti-HIV activity in the test tube, most notably Asian scullcap.³⁰ Therefore studies on sho-saiko-to cannot be taken to mean that bupleurum is the only active herb involved. The other ingredients are peony root, pinellia root, cassia bark, ginger root, jujube fruit, Asian ginseng root, Asian scullcap root, and licorice root.