Bai Hu Jiao白胡椒
Piperis Fructus · White Pepper
Overview
The familiar kitchen spice, used medicinally in small amounts: acrid and hot, it drives cold out of the Stomach and intestines quickly, so it suits cold cramping pain, vomiting of clear fluid and watery diarrhoea that eases with warmth. Because it is so hot, the medicinal dose is deliberately small and the powder is usually taken with warm water rather than decocted at length. Black and white pepper are the same fruit picked and processed differently; white is the more commonly dispensed.
Nature & Flavor
Acrid · HotChannels
Stomach · Large IntestineTypical Dosage
1–3 g in decoction; 0.6–1.5 g as powderActions
3 core actions
- Warms the middle, disperses coldCold epigastric and abdominal pain that eases with warmth and pressure, with vomiting of clear watery fluid.
- Stops cold diarrhoeaWatery stools with undigested food and a cold, aching abdomen.
- Restores appetiteCulinary amounts as a warming digestive for a cold, sluggish stomach.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Bai Hu Jiao
No published formula lists this herb yet — the library is growing.
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Cold epigastric or abdominal pain relieved by warmth
- Vomiting of clear fluid from cold in the Stomach
- Watery cold-type diarrhoea
- Poor appetite with a cold, sluggish digestion
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
Hot and drying, and easy to overdo because it is also a food: avoid medicinal doses in yin deficiency with heat, in active bleeding, in haemorrhoids and in eye inflammation, and in anyone with reflux or gastric ulceration, where it aggravates. Keep to the small dose given — larger amounts irritate the stomach lining.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: Culinary amounts are unremarkable; medicinal doses in pregnancy only on a practitioner's direction.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
2. 《中华人民共和国药典》.
3. 《中华本草》.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.