What is Dang Gui? Is it the same as European angelica or Du Huo?
Official Dang Gui (当归) is the dried root of Angelica sinensis. The pharmacopoeial name is Angelicae Sinensis Radix. Minxian, Gansu material is the classic Min Gui. European and Japanese angelicas are related species, not full equivalents. Du Huo is a different wind-damp herb. Roots that are dry, woody and oil-less, or green-brown on section, are not medicinal.
What are the TCM properties and traditional uses of Dang Gui?
According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Dang Gui is sweet, acrid and warm, enters the Liver, Heart and Spleen channels, and acts to tonify and invigorate Blood, regulate the menses and stop pain, and moisten the intestine to move the stool. It is used for Blood-deficiency sallowness, dizziness and palpitations, irregular menses, amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea, deficiency-cold abdominal pain, wind-damp impediment, trauma, sores, and dry intestinal constipation. It both tonifies and moves—“the Qi herb within the Blood”—tonifying without stagnation.
How do whole root, head, body, tail, wine-fried and charred Dang Gui differ?
Tradition says the head stops bleeding and goes up, the body tonifies and stays in the middle, the tail breaks stasis and goes down, and the whole root both tonifies and invigorates. Clinics usually use the whole root. Wine-fried Dang Gui more strongly invigorates and unblocks the menses for amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea and trauma. Earth-fried lessens moistening of the bowel when stool is loose. Charred Dang Gui invigorates less and stops bleeding more, for flooding. Name the specification; do not swap them freely.
What is the usual dosage of Dang Gui?
The pharmacopoeial decoction dose is 6–12 g; it may also enter pills, powders or wine. Tonify Blood and regulate the menses with the raw or whole root; invigorate and unblock with the wine-fried. Oily, pliable slices decoct with the rest of the formula. Reduce the dose or use earth-fried material if stool is loose or damp is abundant. It is not an unlimited daily “women’s tonic.”
What are the contraindications? Can it be used in pregnancy?
Use caution in damp obstruction with focal fullness and in loose stool; pregnancy—especially early pregnancy and when Blood-moving force is unwelcome—needs a practitioner’s judgment. Sweet-warm moistening makes damp diarrhea worse. Invigorating Blood can stir bleeding and may excite the uterus; do not self-stew Angelica chicken while pregnant. Tell the prescriber about heavy menses, a bleeding tendency or anticoagulants. Do not use the warm tonic alone when Yin-deficiency fire is marked.
Can Dang Gui tonify Blood, regulate the menses and moisten the intestine?
Yes. Sallow Blood deficiency with palpitations and dizziness is its core job, often with Astragalus as Dang Gui Bu Xue Tang, or in Si Wu Tang. Irregular menses, pain and amenorrhea need a Cold-Heat-stasis-deficiency read: Blood vacuity, stasis and cold-congealing favor it; reckless Blood-heat and excess-heat stasis need cooling partners. Dry constipation from Blood and fluid lack may be moistened. It is not a universal pill for every anemia or cramp, and it does not replace investigation of organic disease.
Can women drink Dang Gui tea or stew Angelica chicken every day?
Not as a four-season staple. Warm, oily and Blood-moving, it disorders people who already have heat, damp, heavy menses or loose stool. Postpartum or post-period Blood deficiency may be treated in a short prescribed course. Long self-“beauty” use can bloat, loosen the stool and increase menstrual volume. Whether to pause in the period depends on Cold, Heat and stasis—not a single rule to stop or to load up.
How do you choose among Dang Gui, Shu Di, Bai Shao, Chuan Xiong and Dan Shen?
Prepared rehmannia purely tonifies Yin-Blood and is cloying. White peony is sour-cold, constrains Yin, softens the Liver and stops pain. Chuanxiong is acrid-warm and piercing—moves Qi and Blood and reaches the vertex. Salvia is bitter and slightly cold—moves Blood and also clears, better for stasis-heat. Si Wu Tang is rehmannia, Angelica, peony and chuanxiong: Angelica tonifies while it moves. Vacuity favors Angelica and rehmannia; painful stasis favors Angelica and chuanxiong; heat-stasis favors Salvia. Do not stack Angelica for every “Blood tonic” request.
Which herbs is Dang Gui combined with? What are the representative formulas?
With prepared rehmannia, white peony and chuanxiong it forms Si Wu Tang. With Astragalus for Qi and Blood weakness it is Dang Gui Bu Xue Tang. Postpartum lochia and stasis pain join chuanxiong, peach kernel and blast-fried ginger in Sheng Hua Tang. Liver-Spleen disharmony with pain and diarrhea joins peony, Poria and Atractylodes in Dang Gui Shao Yao San. Name wine-fried or raw according to the pattern.
How do you choose and store Dang Gui?
Choose stout main roots that are pliable, yellow-white on section with many oil dots, a rich aroma and a sweet, acrid, slightly bitter taste. Discard dry, woody, oil-less or green-brown roots. Wine-fried slices are darker and smell of wine. Store cool and dry, protected from moisture and insects; oily slices turn rancid and wormy. Buy labeled Dang Gui or wine-fried Dang Gui, not European angelica or Du Huo. Use official slices from a regulated source.
