Name: Lycium (root, bark)
Latin Name: Lycium Chinese Mill
Pin Yin: Di Gu Pi
Location: China, Japan, Java, Malaysia, Britain, Europe and North America

Overview: Sweet in flavour, cold in nature, it acts on the lung, liver and kidney channels. The sweet and cold properties of the herb remove heat and moisturize dryness. It is good at clearing away the heat of deficiency type in liver and kidney, hence bringing down the hectic fever. It is an important herb for treating the syndromes of heat due to Yin-deficiency, hectic and tidal heat. It is also used to clear lung-heat, remove heat from the blood, stop bleeding, and treat cough due to lung-heat, hematemesis and epitaxis caused by blood-heat as well.

History: Lycium Bark is a major Chinese tonic herb with almost 2,000 years of use and it is believed to promote long life. Lycium Bark is used in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis and pneumonia in small children, chronic febrile disease, night sweats, cough and asthma, tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

Primary Uses:

• Its decoction, infusion, tincture and injection exert a hypotensive effect on anesthetized or unanesthetized animals.
• Antipyretic. Reducing vaccine-induced fever in rabbits.
• Its extract lowers serum cholesterol level in rabbits.
• Its decoction reduces blood sugar level in rabbits.
• An active component, betaine, possesses a lipocaic effect.

Parts Used: Root and bark

Safety: Not for use during pregnancy unless otherwise directed by a qualified practitioner.

Important Note: May potentiate antidiabetic (hypoglycemic) drugs. Due to the antihypertensive (hypotensive) action of this herb the following interactions are possible: when taken with anesthetics an increased hypotensive effect; potentiation of antihypertensives; when taken with diuretics difficulty with diuresis and hypertension may result; antagonism of sympathomimetics.

Supporting Research:

• This study suggests that Lycium barbarum may play a role in preventing oxidant injury. It is worthy of further research and development.¹
• Although traditional Chinese formulas are very helpful at treating constitutional factors and various symptoms, they have not been widely studied for their glucose-lowering effects. Formulas such as wu ling san may be used to reduce water weight. Formulas such as the following astragalus formula [consisting of astragalus root and seed (huang qi & sha yuan ji zi); ligustrum (nu zhen zi); ho-sho-wu (he shou wu); lycium fruit (gou qi zi); rehmannia (shu di huang); eucommia (du zhong); cuscuta (tu si zi); ginseng (ren shen); tang kuei (dang gui); and cornus (shan zhu yu)] may be used to reduce night-time urination and have mild hypoglycemic effects.²
• http://www.senhealth.com/vsite/vcontent/page/xmlcontent/0,11740,4822-129152-130460-19220-68261-xmlcontent-item,00.html
• http://alternativehealing.org/qi_zi.htm
• http://www.e2121.com/herb_db/viewherb.php3?viewid=185

¹He Jian Feng, The First People’s Hospital of Liu Zhou City; Chou Yi Jie, The Affiliated Hospital of Qing Dao Medical School; Pao Lian Yun, The First People’s Hospital of Lian Yun Gang City; Zhang Li Gui, The Affiliated Hospital of Qing Dao Medical School, [The Effect of Lycium Barbarum (Wolfberry) on Antioxidant Activity in the Retina of Diabetic Rats], Rich Nature Nutraceutical Lab, www.richnature.com.

²Andrew Gaeddert, BA, AHG, [How Do You Treat Diabetes and Syndrome X], http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2002/dec/12gaeddert.html.