Coix Seed (Yi Yi Ren)
Coix Seed, first recorded in the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” (Shen Nong’s Classic of Materia Medica), is classified as a superior herb, also known by the alternative name “Jie Li”. Li Shizhen in “Ben Cao Gang Mu” states: “The name is not clearly defined”. The traditional character for “Yi” resembles the true form of the wild coix plant. The term “Yi” has evolved based on the morphology of the plant’s seeds, seedlings, and mature plants. Lu Ji in “Mao Shi Cao Mu Niao Shou Chong Yu Shu” suggests that “Yi” refers to the heart of the lotus seed, as coix seeds resemble lotus seeds with a shell and a white heart inside, hence coix is the fruit of this plant. The leaves of coix are similar in shape to the leaves of the Jie Li plant, which is why it is named Jie Li.
As early as the “Book of Songs”, there is a record of “Cai Cai Fu Yi”, indicating that ancient people had two different views on “Fu Yi”: one believed it referred to Plantago, while the other believed it referred to coix.
Coix Seed and Grass Pearl
Coix Seed and Grass Pearl both belong to the Coix genus, which has four species, two of which are native to China: one is the cultivated coix, commonly known as coix pearl; the other is the wild coix, commonly known as Chuan Gu or Bodhi seed.
Coix is one of the earliest crops domesticated in ancient China, with coix seeds unearthed from the Hemudu site dating back over six thousand years. Due to the long cultivation history and wide geographical distribution of coix, there are numerous alternative names recorded in ancient texts, and its high hybridization rate has led to significant variations in cultivated varieties, complicating identification and inevitably causing confusion in clinical applications.
At least in the herbal texts of the Wei and Jin dynasties, such as “Ming Yi Bie Lu” and “Ben Cao Jing Ji Zhu”, physicians at that time were unclear in distinguishing coix, often confusing “Coix Seed” with “Grass Pearl”.
However, whether in ancient or modern times, the original plant referred to for medicinal or edible coix primarily refers to the variety with a thinner seed coat and higher starch content, as well as its cultivated varieties.
Processing
The processing of coix seed first appeared in the Jin dynasty in the “Zhou Hou Bei Ji Fang” for treating wind toxin and weak phlegm obstruction, stating, “One sheng of coix seed, ground into powder, … boil two spoonfuls of powder to make porridge, and consume on an empty stomach”, which involves grinding coix seed into fine powder to enhance extraction and improve efficacy. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the “Lei Gong Pao Zhi Lun” introduced methods such as boiling with double the amount of glutinous rice and cooking in salt water. During the Tang dynasty, the “Bei Ji Qian Jin Yao Fang” mentioned a wine-soaking method for coix seed in the formula for rheumatic contraction, stating, “Coix Seed, … nine ingredients, soak in two dou of pure wine overnight”. The “Suwen” mentions that coix seed is cold in nature and should not be used to treat “muscle spasms caused by cold”, while wine soaking can reduce the cold nature of the herb, enhancing its efficacy. In the Song dynasty, stir-frying coix seed became a common processing method in traditional Chinese medicine, as it can increase the extraction of active components and reduce toxic side effects. The “Tai Ping Sheng Hui Fang” proposed lightly stir-frying coix seed, while “Ben Cao Gang Mu” mentioned that earth-fried coix seed can treat hernias, followed by methods such as glutinous rice frying, salt frying, and ginger juice frying, with modern methods including sand-frying and bran-frying coix seed.
Properties and Efficacy
Coix Seed has high medicinal value, classified as a superior herb in both the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” and “Ben Cao Gang Mu”. “Ben Cao Cong Xin” describes it as “sweet, bland, slightly cold, belonging to the earth, a Yangming herb”. “Ben Cao Xin Bian” states it “enters the spleen and kidney channels, and also the lung”. However, in the “Lei Gong Pao Zhi Yao Xing Jie”, it is recorded that coix seed “enters the lung, spleen, liver, stomach, and large intestine channels”. It has effects of relaxing tendons and alleviating pain, promoting diuresis and strengthening the spleen, and expelling pus and reducing abscesses.
According to the “Ben Cao Jing Shu”: “Coix Seed is dry in nature and can eliminate dampness, sweet in flavor and can enter the spleen to tonify it, and its blandness can promote diuresis, thus it is indicated for muscle spasms and rheumatic pain that restrict movement, and to eliminate evil qi from the muscles and bones, promote gastrointestinal function, reduce edema, and improve appetite.”
“Ben Cao Zheng Yi” states: “Coix is sweet and bland, slightly cool in nature, and slightly descending and permeating, thus it can eliminate dampness and promote diuresis. Because it eliminates dampness, it can benefit the joints, relieve athlete’s foot, treat weakness and spasms due to dampness, alleviate edema and pain, promote urination and relieve heat in the urinary tract, and also kill roundworms. Its slight descending nature also treats cough with phlegm, promotes digestion, and its cool nature can clear heat and relieve thirst.” However, its effects are mild, and it is advisable to use it as an adjunct in larger doses.”
Relaxing Tendons and Alleviating Pain
Coix Seed can be used to treat muscle spasms and chronic rheumatic pain. Muscle spasms refer to symptoms of muscle tightness and difficulty in movement, while pain in modern medicine refers to rheumatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis. The “Ben Cao Jing Jie” records: “If damp heat is not eliminated, the tendons will be soft and short, leading to spasms. Coix Seed is slightly cold, clears heat and eliminates dampness, thus it is indicated for muscle spasms that restrict movement.” It also states: “If wind invades, it leads to numbness in the hands and feet and dampness causing pain. Coix Seed is sweet and cold, and its sweetness promotes movement and clears the condition.” This demonstrates its efficacy.
Modern studies have also found that coix seed has therapeutic effects on arthritis and gastrocnemius muscle spasms. However, any disease should be treated according to its symptoms, as stated in “Ben Cao Chong Yuan”: “For heat-induced spasms, coix seed can be used. However, if the spasms are due to cold, it should not be used.”
Promoting Diuresis and Strengthening the Spleen
“Ben Cao Bei Yao” describes coix seed as “sweet, benefiting the stomach, and earth can overcome water, blandness can permeate dampness”. Chen Shiduo praised coix seed for its “wonderful ability to promote diuresis without depleting the essence”, suggesting that people use coix seed more often.
Modern pharmacological studies indicate that coix seed can regulate the expression of water transport-related proteins, achieving the effect of eliminating dampness. “Ben Cao Cong Xin” states: “Slightly cold and belonging to the earth, it is a Yangming (stomach) herb, … it drains water to benefit the earth, thus strengthening the spleen.” “Ben Cao Hai Li” also mentions: “Sweet, bland, slightly cold, entering the stomach, earth overcomes water, blandness permeates dampness and drains water, thus it can strengthen the spleen.”
Expelling Pus and Reducing Abscesses
“Ben Cao Gang Mu” states that coix seed can treat “abscesses that do not rupture”. “Ben Jing Feng Yuan” mentions that coix seed is “sweet and cold, ascending slightly and descending more”, which can clear heat to treat lung abscesses and lung atrophy caused by extreme lung heat, and conditions of excessive fire. If the gastrointestinal function is weak or there is damp heat, combined with improper diet, excessive fatigue, or external pathogenic factors, gastrointestinal function may be impaired, leading to intestinal abscesses. Coix seed has the ability to clear heat, eliminate dampness, and strengthen the spleen and stomach, thus “Jin Kui Yao Lue” suggests using coix seed with Fu Zi and Bai Jiang San to treat intestinal abscesses and related symptoms.
Contraindications and Precautions
As a medicinal material that is also a food source, coix seed has a mild potency, thus when used medicinally, the dosage should be increased. “This herb has a gentle potency, and when used, it should be doubled compared to other herbs” (“Ben Cao Meng Quan”). Additionally, coix seed promotes diuresis and clears heat, so “Ben Cao Qiu Zhen” states: “If there is dryness and constipation, cold-induced spasms, or in pregnant women, it should not be used recklessly.” Coix is dry and cold in nature, and pregnant women often have spleen deficiency, thus “Ben Cao Jing Shu” states: “Patients with dry stools, short urination due to cold-induced spasms, and spleen deficiency without dampness should avoid it. It is contraindicated in pregnancy.” Studies have found that feeding coix seed extract to pregnant rats increases the rate of miscarriage.
Winter Melon (Dong Gua)
Winter melon has a long history of cultivation and consumption in China, with records dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties.
Winter melon is a plant used for both food and medicine, first recorded as food in the “Shi Jing” by Cui Hao of the Northern Wei: “Winter melon, cold, should not be eaten by people with cold conditions.” Its medicinal use was first recorded in the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing”, classified as a superior herb. The flesh, seeds, skin, and leaves of winter melon can all be used medicinally. Winter melon seeds are an important medicinal material, known for their significant effects in “clearing the lungs, resolving phlegm, expelling pus, and promoting diuresis”, and their clinical applications remain extensive today. Winter melon seeds were included in the 1963 and 1977 editions of the “Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China” (hereinafter referred to as “Pharmacopoeia”), but are not included in the current 2020 edition.
The properties of winter melon seeds have been recorded since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, such as in the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” stating: “Melon seeds are sweet and neutral”, followed by Tao Hongjing’s “Ming Yi Bie Lu” which proposed that they are “cold”. This description has been followed in herbal texts from the Tang dynasty to the Ming dynasty for nearly 900 years. It was not until the Ming dynasty that Li Shizhen in “Ben Cao Gang Mu” defined their properties as “sweet and neutral”, removing the “cold” classification. Since then, there has been considerable debate in herbal literature regarding the medicinal properties of winter melon seeds, with records generally divided into two categories: “sweet and neutral” and “sweet and cold”. Zhao Xueming in “Lu Chuan Ben Cao” proposed a new perspective, describing them as “sweet and cool”, suggesting that the properties of winter melon seeds are intermediate between cold and neutral, but still leaning towards cold, thus describing them as “cool”.
Efficacy
Historical herbal texts have rich records regarding the efficacy of winter melon seeds. The earliest record in the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” states: “It makes one radiant, improves complexion, benefits qi, and prevents hunger. Long-term use lightens the body and delays aging”, indicating that the “Ben Jing” considers winter melon seeds to be a medicinal substance for beauty and nourishment, thus holding a high medicinal status. The “Ming Yi Bie Lu” states: “It is indicated for relieving fullness and unhappiness”, where fullness refers to symptoms of anxiety and chest tightness due to internal heat accumulation.
From the Eastern Han to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, its primary functions were to tonify qi, nourish the skin, relieve anxiety, and treat lung obstruction, often used as a facial mask or powder for washing hands and face.
“Ben Cao Gang Mu” provides the most detailed account of the efficacy of winter melon seeds, fully inheriting previous records and innovatively proposing the efficacy of winter melon seeds in treating intestinal abscesses. Intestinal abscesses refer to abscesses occurring in the intestines, classified as internal abscesses, often caused by irregular diet, damage to the spleen and stomach, accumulation of waste, or stagnation of qi and blood leading to heat accumulation in the intestines. Starting from “Ben Cao Gang Mu”, the innovative proposal of its efficacy in treating intestinal abscesses has been validated and passed down, providing a realistic basis for the classification of winter melon seeds into the large intestine and spleen channels.
The Qing dynasty marked a peak in the development of traditional Chinese medicine, with many schools of thought providing detailed explanations of the properties and efficacy of medicinal herbs, thus broadening the practical applications of traditional Chinese medicine.
During the Qing dynasty, the therapeutic effects of winter melon seeds expanded to include anti-inflammatory and pus-expelling properties, nourishing the liver and improving vision, clearing the lungs, stopping coughs, moistening dryness, and treating conditions such as heart heat accumulation, urinary disorders, rosacea, lung abscesses, whooping cough, gastric weakness and vomiting, and malaria. The moistening, cooling, and anti-inflammatory properties of winter melon seeds also reflect their cold nature.
Modern herbal literature has more thoroughly studied the efficacy of winter melon seeds, with “Zhonghua Ben Cao” adding their effects in treating “leucorrhea, athlete’s foot, and edema”. “Ben Cao Pian Bi” mentions their use in treating “nephritis, urethritis, and chronic colitis”, primarily for diseases of the reproductive system caused by damp heat. The evolution of the descriptions of winter melon seeds’ efficacy reflects the deepening and refining understanding of this herb by ancient scholars, initially recognized for beauty and qi tonification, gradually increasing to include functions such as “relieving anxiety”, “resolving phlegm”, “removing skin blemishes and dark spots, moisturizing the skin”, “stimulating appetite and awakening the spleen”, “treating intestinal abscesses”, “treating heart heat accumulation, painful urination, and rosacea”, “nourishing the liver and improving vision”, “clearing the lungs, stopping coughs, and moistening the intestines”, “treating thirst”, “treating lung abscesses and whooping cough”, “malaria with chills and fever, and gastrointestinal stagnation”, “leucorrhea, athlete’s foot, and edema”, and “nephritis, urethritis, and chronic colitis”.
Identification
Coix Seed and Winter Melon Seed are both sweet and cold, entering the spleen channel, and both have effects of clearing heat, promoting diuresis, and expelling pus and reducing abscesses. They are commonly used to treat intestinal abscesses and lung abscesses, often combined to enhance the effects of promoting diuresis and expelling pus, as seen in the “Qian Jin Yao Fang” where the reed stem decoction uses these two herbs along with reed stem and peach kernel to treat lung abscesses.
Coix Seed is sweet, cold, and light, benefiting the spleen and promoting diuresis, with a tonifying effect similar to that of Poria. “Ben Cao Fen Jing” states: “Rice seeds (i.e., coix seed) are sweet, bland, slightly cold, and have a gentle potency, benefiting the stomach and strengthening the spleen, thus they can treat difficulty in urination, edema, and spleen deficiency diarrhea.”
Winter Melon Seed is cold and slippery, capable of guiding downwards to eliminate damp heat, thus suitable for treating damp heat urinary disorders, leucorrhea, and hemorrhoids. “Ben Cao Shu” states: “It is indicated for heart heat accumulation, painful urination, and rosacea, with pain and yellow fluid discharge.”
Coix Seed promotes diuresis and relaxes tendons, alleviating spasms, as stated in the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing”: “It is indicated for muscle spasms that restrict movement.” The “Tai Ping Sheng Hui Fang” includes coix seed porridge, using coix seed as the main ingredient, combined with Jing Jie, mint, scallions, and fermented soybeans to treat external invasion of wind, muscle spasms, and restricted movement.
Winter Melon Seed can moisten the lungs and resolve phlegm, thus treating cough with phlegm heat. “Jing Zheng Zheng Yao Lu” states: “It moistens the lungs and alleviates dryness, nourishing the heart fluid”, while “Ji Shi Liao Ben Cao” states: “It relieves fullness and anxiety in the chest, resolving phlegm and stopping anxiety.”
Heavy use of coix seed can treat white rash (skin with white blisters) and flat warts. For example, the “Wen Bing Tiao Bian” mentions the coix and bamboo leaf powder, using coix seed combined with other herbs to treat damp stagnation in the meridians, body heat, and pain with white rash.
Heavy use of winter melon seed can treat rosacea on the face. “Ben Cao Shu” states: “Winter melon seed is indicated for heart heat accumulation, painful urination, and rosacea, with pain and yellow fluid discharge.”
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