Subject: gui pi wan information needed

From: Camilla Cracchiolo <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Apr 1996 23:17:03 -0700

A friend of mine is taking an over the counter Chinese herbal remedy 
called Gui Pi Wan.  Can anybody tell me what's in this?  Also, do any of 
the herbs in it have estrogenic activity?

Thanks.

   "The trick is to keep an open mind, without it being so open
                      that your brain falls out."

           Camilla Cracchiolo, RN   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (F. Xia)
Date: 23 Apr 96 13:52:49 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, 
> the herbs in it have estrogenic activity?

I'm responding from SCC (this is saying that I'm no
expert in herbal medicine). There are many different
Chinese characters pronounced as gui or pi (I'm 
guessing that wan means balls or pills). "Gui pi"
could be understood as cinamen(sp?) bark or more
likely restoring/returning the spleen. If it's the
former obviously it contains mainly/mostly/purely
cinamen while if it's the latter I seem to remember
ginseng as being one of the more important 
ingredients.

Most good drug making companies actually provide a
list of the ingredients with their products (legally
binding practice in China) though most do not say
how much of what is in a pill.

Regards, Fei

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 96 00:41:39 PDT

In Article<[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]> write:
> Path: news.NetVision.net.il!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!gatech!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!nntp.news.primenet.com!news.primenet.com!camilla
> From: Camilla Cracchiolo <[email-masked]>
> Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs,misc.health.alternative,sci.med,sci.bio.botany,soc.culture.china,soc.culture.japan
> Subject: gui pi wan information needed
> Date: 21 Apr 1996 23:17:03 -0700
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>            Camilla Cracchiolo, RN   [email-masked]

This is a Chinese Herbal Patent formula. It is also called
Angelica Longana Tea. It is used for fatigue with night
sweating, palpitations. poor memory, insomnia, restless
dreaming. It is very good for abdominal distention with
flatulence and abnormal uterine bleeding and heavy menses.
It has nothing to do with estrogen in the allopathic sense.
This formula nurtures what is called in chinese medicine,
spleen qi.
Eveline.

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From: Camilla Cracchiolo <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Apr 1996 01:19:01 -0700

[email-masked] wrote:

: This is a Chinese Herbal Patent formula. It is also called
: Angelica Longana Tea. It is used for fatigue with night
: sweating, palpitations. poor memory, insomnia, restless
: dreaming. It is very good for abdominal distention with
: flatulence and abnormal uterine bleeding and heavy menses.
: It has nothing to do with estrogen in the allopathic sense.
: This formula nurtures what is called in chinese medicine,
: spleen qi.
: Eveline.

Thank you very much for posting the information.

Does this mean that it contains an herb named Angelica Longana, and if 
so, how closely related is Angelica longana to Angelica archangelica, 
which is what we usually mean by Angelica in western herbalism?

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From: Steve Rosenthal <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 10:57:26 -0700

Camilla Cracchiolo wrote:
> Does this mean that it contains an herb named Angelica Longana... "Angelica Longana" is two herbs; Angelica Sinensis (Dang Gui) and
Arillus Euphoriae Longanae (Long Yan Rou)

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From: [email-masked] (Space Cowboy)
Date: 24 Apr 1996 13:10:06 GMT

> the herbs in it have estrogenic activity?

 Gui Pi Wan is Angelicae Longana Tea, "Restore Spleen Pill", Lanchow
Chinese Medicine Works.  Among otherthings used for heavy menses.  Source
Chinese Herbal Patent Formulas, Jake Fratkin, SHYA Publications, 1986,
ISBN: 0-9626078-2-7.
 The famous Chinese herb for 'estrogenic activity' is Angelica.  It makes
up a small % of this formula.  The formula Tang Kwe Gin is essentially
70% Angelica.  Of course then there is the contradiction that 'more is
better' or 'less is better'.  I'd stay with the current formula if it
were prescribed by a Traditional Chinese Doctor.  However Tang Kwe Gin
is the classic formula for menopausal women.

---
Jim

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From: [email-masked] (Space Cowboy)
Date: 25 Apr 1996 12:44:28 GMT

One day [email-masked] pondered then posted ...
> snip

>so, how closely related is Angelica longana to Angelica archangelica, 

"Angelica" is Radix Angelica Sinensis (7%) and
"Longana"  is Arillus Euphoriae Longanae (14%) of the formula.

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Jim