The efficacy and function of beeswax

After thousands of years of sedimentation and accumulation, the types and quantities of Chinese medicine have become quite astonishing. Therefore, choosing Chinese medicine to treat some difficult and complicated diseases always has a very good effect. Next, I will recommend a kind of Chinese medicine beeswax to you.

[Other names] Wax (in "Zuohoufang"), honey bee (in "Bencao Jing Jizhu"), beeswax (in "Modern Practical Chinese Medicine").

[Source] It is a refined wax secreted by worker bees such as the Chinese honey bees of the Apidae family. In spring and autumn, remove the honey from the honeycomb and heat it in a pot of water to melt it. Remove the foam and impurities on the top and filter it while hot. Let it cool and the beeswax will solidify into blocks and float on the water. Take it out and it will become yellow wax. The yellow wax is then processed through refining, bleaching and other processes to become white wax.

[Properties] ① Yellow wax (from "Yao Sengtan's Collection of Effective Prescriptions"), also known as: Huangzhan (from "Zhongfutang's Selection of Good Prescriptions"). Most of them are irregular blocks of varying sizes, and are yellow or yellow-brown in color, opaque or slightly transparent. The surface is smooth and feels greasy to the touch. It is light and can float on the water. It is soft and brittle when cold, and has granular cross-section. It can be softened by rubbing it with your hands. It has a honey-like aroma, a mellow taste, and is delicate and sticky when chewed. Insoluble in water, soluble in dry ether and chloroform. The best ones are yellow in color, pure, soft and greasy, and have a honey-like aroma.

[Chemical composition] The main components of beeswax can be divided into four categories, namely esters, free acids, free alcohols and hydrocarbons. In addition, it also contains trace amounts of volatile oils and pigments.

【Nature and flavor】 Sweet, mild, neutral.

[entry into meridians] Enters the spleen, stomach and large intestine meridians.

【Functions and indications】Detoxification, tissue regeneration, and pain relief. It is used to treat acute heart pain, dysentery with pus and blood, chronic diarrhea, bleeding due to fetal movement, internal sores and carbuncles, long-term ulcers that do not heal, and burns caused by water or fire.

[Usage and Dosage] For oral administration: dissolve and take 1.5 to 3 qian; or make into pills. For external use: dissolve and apply.

【Note】 Do not take this medicine if you have just started suffering from damp-heat dysentery.

[Additional prescription] ① Treating red and white dysentery, unbearable pain in the lower abdomen, heaviness in the lower abdomen, or blue face and changes in hands and feet: 3 grams of yellow wax and 3 grams of donkey-hide gelatin. Dissolve together, add 50g of Coptis chinensis powder, stir well, and take hot in three doses. (Zhongjing Tiaoqi Drink in Compendium of Materia Medica)

【Explanations by various scholars】 ① "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Honey has a thick flavor, so it nourishes the spleen. Wax has a thin flavor, so it nourishes the stomach. Thick ones are sweet, mild and soft, so they moisten the internal organs. Thin ones are light, astringent and hard, so they stop diarrhea. Zhang Zhongjing used Tiaoqiyin to treat dysentery, and Qianjin Fang used Jiaowax Tang to treat dysentery. Their effects were very quick, probably because of this."

【Excerpt】 《*Dictionary》

From the above description, we can know that the nutritional value and medicinal value of beeswax are very high. It can treat some diseases and can also be used as a raw material for diet therapy. It is indeed a good choice for health and wellness.