Pueraria Root – 1 lb (454 g)

Pueraria Root, known in Chinese as 葛根 (Gěgēn) and scientifically as Radix Puerariae, is a valued herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This TCM herb has been traditionally used to support natural wellness, maintain vitality, and encourage holistic balance. At TCMforyou.com, we provide premium-quality Pueraria Root carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Pueraria Root helps promote overall well-being and supports natural energy, immunity, and balance. Integrating this herb into your wellness routine offers a gentle, time-tested approach to enhancing daily health. Whether brewed as tea, added to herbal remedies, or taken as part of a TCM formula, Pueraria Root provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Pueraria Root has been used in TCM to harmonize the body and encourage optimal functioning of key systems. At TCMforyou, we prioritize authenticity and quality. Each batch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure purity and potency, delivering an herbal product aligned with traditional practices.

Experience the natural support of Pueraria Root, promoting immune health, vitality, and holistic well-being. Embrace the wisdom of TCM and incorporate this gentle, effective herbal remedy into your daily wellness journey.

[Overview] This herb is also known as dried Gegen, sweet Gegen, powder Gegen, and Gegen vine root. It is the tuberous root of the Fabaceae family plants Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi or Pueraria thomsonii Benth. The former is distributed throughout most regions of China except Xinjiang and Tibet, mainly produced in Hunan, Henan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and other provinces; the latter is mainly produced in Guangdong and Guangxi, with additional production in Sichuan and Yunnan. Harvested in spring and autumn, wild Pueraria roots are often sliced fresh into thick pieces or small chunks and dried; Pueraria thomsonii, commonly called “powder Gegen,” is usually peeled, sulfur-fumigated, slightly dried, cut into sections or halved longitudinally, then dried.

[Properties] Taste sweet and acrid, nature is cool. Enters the spleen and stomach meridians.

[Actions] Releases the exterior and relaxes muscles, promotes rash eruption, reduces fever and generates fluids, raises yang and stops diarrhea.

[Applications]
1. Used for exterior wind-cold syndromes with fever, headache, and stiff neck, often combined with cinnamon twig (Gui Zhi) and ephedra (Ma Huang), as in Gegen Tang (Kudzu Decoction); for wind-heat exterior syndromes, often combined with bupleurum (Chai Hu), scutellaria (Huang Qin), and gypsum (Shi Gao), as in Chai Ge Jie Ji Tang (Bupleurum and Kudzu Decoction to Release the Muscle Layer).
2. Used for early-stage measles with incomplete eruption, often combined with cimicifuga (Sheng Ma), as in Sheng Ma Ge Gen Tang (Cimicifuga and Kudzu Decoction).
3. Used for thirst. If caused by febrile disease injuring fluids, often combined with gypsum, anemarrhena (Zhi Mu), and reed rhizome (Lu Gen); if due to yin fluid deficiency, often combined with trichosanthes root (Tian Hua Fen), ophiopogon (Mai Dong), and rehmannia (Sheng Di Huang), as in Tian Hua Fen San (Trichosanthes Powder).
4. Used for diarrhea and dysentery. For damp-heat diarrhea and dysentery, often combined with scutellaria (Huang Qin) and coptis (Huang Lian), as in Ge Gen Qin Lian Tang (Kudzu, Scutellaria, and Coptis Decoction); for spleen deficiency diarrhea with failure of clear yang to ascend, often combined with ginseng (Ren Shen), atractylodes (Bai Zhu), poria (Fu Ling), and costus (Mu Xiang), as in Qi Wei Bai Zhu San (Seven-Ingredient Atractylodes Powder).
Additionally, this herb is commonly used in modern practice for treating hypertension-related headache, stiff neck, tinnitus, coronary heart disease angina pectoris, and sudden deafness.

[Dosage and Administration] Internal use: decoction, 9–15 g; or crushed for juice. External use: appropriate amount, crushed and applied topically. For releasing the exterior, promoting rash eruption, and generating fluids, use raw; for stopping diarrhea, often use cooked.

[Cautions] Use with caution in patients with cold stomach.

[Modern Research]
1. Chemical constituents mainly include isoflavonoids: daidzein, daidzin, daidzein 4′,7-diglucoside, puerarin, puerarin 7-xyloside, etc. Also contains β-sitosterol, stigmasterone, urea, docosanoic acid, tetracosanoic acid glycerides, arachidic acid, and abundant starch.
2. Pharmacological effects: Gegen has antipyretic effects, with ethanol extracts stronger than decoctions; puerarin and puerarin flavonoids dilate coronary arteries, reducing resistance and increasing coronary blood flow; total flavonoids counteract pituitary posterior lobe hormone-induced coronary artery spasm and reduce myocardial oxygen consumption; ethanol extracts significantly antagonize arrhythmias induced by aconitine or barium chloride; decoctions, tinctures, and total flavonoids have antihypertensive effects. Gegen is an effective β-adrenergic receptor blocker, which is one mechanism for its antihypertensive and anti-arrhythmic effects. Gegen decoction and puerarin have hypoglycemic effects; isoflavonoids have lipid-lowering effects; puerarin also inhibits platelet aggregation; additionally, it has cognitive benefits, antioxidant, and anti-tumor effects.
3. Clinical reports:
1) Coronary heart disease: puerarin 4–5 mg/kg intravenously. In 30 cases, myocardial oxygen consumption index decreased after treatment, effectively limiting myocardial infarction size. [Chinese Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases, 1985,(3):175]
2) Hypertension: daily 30 g Gegen, 15 g Sophora japonica (Huai Mi), 15 g Celastrus orbiculatus (Chong Wei Zi), decocted to 500 ml, 250 ml twice daily. In 50 cases, total effective rate was 84%. [Hubei Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1985,(1):27]
3) Vertebrobasilar insufficiency: oral puerarin tablets (50 mg per tablet), 2 tablets per dose, 3 times daily, 2 weeks per course. In 23 cases, 9 markedly effective, 13 effective, 1 ineffective; total effective rate 95.6%. [Wuhan Medical Information Bulletin, 1988,4(4):6]
4) Retinal artery occlusion: puerarin injection 50 mg intramuscularly twice daily, or 200–400 mg intravenously once daily. In 26 cases (26 eyes), baseline logMAR visual acuity 2.84±1.86, median visual acuity counting fingers; after average 35.4 days treatment, logMAR improved to 3.74±1.41, median visual acuity 0.1, significant difference. [Chinese Journal of Traditional Chinese Ophthalmology, 1993,3(1):19]
5) Refractory heart failure: on top of conventional treatment, puerarin 0.4 g in 250 ml 5% glucose; Xin Xian An 120 mg in 250 ml 5% glucose intravenous drip, 2 weeks per course. In 32 cases, 25 markedly effective (78.13%), 5 effective (15.63%), 2 ineffective (6.25%), total effective rate 93.75%. [Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Emergency Medicine, 2003,10(5):302]