Chinese yam

NATURE:Neutral; sweet; attributive to spleen, lung and kidneys. CHARACTERISTICS:The long tuberous roots of bean-like plants, which are cultivated for pharmaceutical use. It is a superior herb. The dried white flesh of the tuber is sliced into long thin slabs, containing nutrient which can restore and enhance immune functions throughout the system. THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS:Invigorate the spleen and stomach with poor appetite, loose stools or chronic diarrhea; invigorate the lung with chronic cough or tuberculosis; stimulate endocrine secretions for immune deficiency; strengthens kidney functions for frequent urination and leucorrhagia and nourish semen-essence Traditional Chinese medicine classifies Chinese yam as neutral and sweet. It serves to tonify and augment the spleen and stomach; augment the lung yin and tonify the lung qi; and stabilize, tonify, and bind the kidneys. Chinese yam enters through the spleen, lung, and kidney channels (meridians). It is used as a tonic (restores tone to tissues). Chinese yam is used to treat weak digestion with fatigue and diarrhea, general weakness, frequent urination, decreased appetite, leukorrhagia (excessive vaginal discharge), premature ejaculation, the symptoms associated with diabetes, and chronic wheezing (whistling sound caused by breathing difficulty) and coughing. Chinese yam should not be taken if the patient's symptoms include abdominal swelling and pain.