• Hay fever
• Allergic asthma
• Eczema
• Urticaria
• Anaphylaxis
• Psoriasis
• Acne

Chinese Herbs Effective for Allergic Rhinitis

An Australian study has demonstrated the benefits of a Chinese herbal preparation (Biminne) in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) Hay fever. In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 58 patients received 5 capsules of either Biminne or placebo, twice a day for 12 weeks. Outcomes were assessed by changes in symptom diaries, quality of life scores, patients' evaluations of improvement on visual analog scores, physicians' overall evaluation, and total serum immunoglobulin E levels. A statistically significant improvement was found in the symptoms of AR, whereas others exhibited a positive trend that did not reach statistical significance. Total serum immunoglobulin E was reduced after the herbal treatment. A follow-up one year after completion of the trial suggested that benefit of the treatment persisted.

(Annals Allergy Asthma Immunol 2002 May;88(5):478-87).

Chinese Medicine and Hayfever

In a randomised blinded trial, 52 patients suffering from seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) were assigned to an active treatment group or a control group. The active group received a semi-standardised acupuncture treatment, once a week, and an appropriate Chinese herbal formula, taken as a decoction three times daily for six weeks. The control group received acupuncture applied to non-points and a “non-specific herbal formula”. 85% of patients in the active group experienced improvement in the Global Assessment of Change scale compared to 40% of the control group.

(Allergy. 2004 Sep;59(9):953-60).

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Chinese Herbs and the Treatment of Allergic Asthma

An oral combination of Chinese herbs could be as effective as conventional medicines at alleviating asthma symptoms but without such severe side effects, report American and Chinese researchers. The researchers, from the world famous Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York along with Weifang Asthma Hospital and Weifang School of Medicine in China, sought to investigate alternatives to corticosteroids, the “cornerstone” of Western asthma treatment. Since corticosteroids can cause side effects, such as greater susceptibility to infections due to immune suppression and reduced growth velocity, they said that there is a need for additional effective treatments with fewer side effects.

In China, traditional medicine is part of mainstream practice, and has been used for centuries for treating a wide range of disease, however relatively little clinical research has been carried out into traditional Chinese medicine for asthma, say the researchers. For the double-blind placebo-controlled study published in the September issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (vol. 116, issue 3), they investigated the effects of a combination of Chinese herbal extracts (dubbed ASHMI - antiasthma herbal medicine intervention).

The trial involved 91 subjects with moderate to severe persistent asthma. They were admitted to hospital for the four-week duration. Forty-six patients were randomly assigned to receive ASHMI as well as placebo tablets similar in appearance to prednisone, an oral administration of the hormone cortisone. The 46 patients in the placebo group received 20mg of prednisone per day, plus placebo resembling ASHMI.

The researchers measured participants’ lung function, side effects and serum cortisol, cytokine and igE levels before and after treatment. The effects of prednisone and ASHMI on lung function were “slightly but significantly greater” with prednisone. However unlike prednisone, ASHMI was seen to have no adverse effects on adrenal function, and had a beneficial effect on TH1 and TH2 cytokine levels.

In addition, fewer patients receiving ASHMI experienced gastric discomfort compared to those receiving prednisone, and the prednisone patients showed significant weight gain after four weeks of treatment. “Taken together, the findings of this study show that ASHMI is effective and well-tolerated in nonsteroid-dependent patients with moderate-severe persistent asthma,” wrote the researchers. They said that the mechanisms underlying its “remarkable” effects are largely unknown but that they are likely to be the result of synergistic or additive effects of the complex nature of its constituents.

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Chinese herbs for eczema

A Chinese herbal formula had been found to reduce the production of inflammatory proteins linked with causing eczema. A Hong Kong team assessed the effects of the ‘Pentaherbs formulation’ (PHF, containing honeysuckle flower (jin yin hua), peppermint (bo he), peony root bark (mu dan pi), atractylodes rhizome (cang zu), and phellodendron bark (huang bai)) on immune cell cultures and patients with atopic eczema. In the in vitro study, the researchers isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from randomly chosen transfusion blood samples.

Cell cultures were then exposed to PHF and the effects on cell growth and production of inflammatory mediators were analysed. PHF reduced production of four inflammatory mediators: brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), interferon (IFN)-gamma, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), following stimulation of the cells with microbial toxins. In the second part of the experiment, 28 Chinese patients (5-21 years old) with moderate to severe eczema were treated with PHF for three months. Most continued to take steroid medication. Blood samples were taken at the beginning and end of this period. Although there was no change in the amount of steroids used by the patients, they found that levels BDNF and TARC reduced over the three months. (In vitro and clinical immunomodulatory effects of a novel Pentaherbs concoction for atopic dermatitis. Br J Dermatol. 2008 Mar 13 [Epub ahead of print].)

Treatment of severe atopic eczema with Chinese herbal medicine

A report in the British Journal of Dermatology (1) reveals that Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine has been shown to be extremely effective in the treatment of severe cases of atopic eczema. A controlled study carried out at the Department of Dermatology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, U.K. proves what has been know for a long time by practitioners of Chinese medicine: Chinese herbal medicine has a major role to play in treating moderate and severe cases of atopic eczema (the most common form of eczema to afflict children and adults). The researchers acknowledged that severe and widespread atopic eczema often fails to respond adequately to conventional treatments and, after observing substantial benefit in patients receiving daily decoctions of traditional Chinese medicinal plants, they decided to undertake a placebo-controlled double-blind trial.

A specific prescription of Chinese herbs was specially formulated for widespread non-exudative atopic eczema. Forty seven children were randomly selected to receive the Chinese herbal formula or a placebo (medicine that has no effect on the disease) for 8 weeks, with an intervening 4-week wash-out period. Thirty-seven children completed the treatment. The response to the treatment was significantly greater than the response to placebo, and was judged by the researchers to be clinically valuable. There was no evidence of haematological, renal or hepatic toxicity in any of the children who participated in the study and the researchers predicted that there would be considerable therapeutic potential for traditional Chinese medicinal plants, not only in the treatment of eczema, but also for other skin diseases.

The same researchers were so impressed with the results of the 8 week study that they went on to do a longer term investigation, analysing the results of 37 children who were suffering from severe atopic eczema. This study conducted over a one year period found that 49% of the children experienced at least 90% reduction in the severity of their eczema. These studies demonstrated that Chinese medicine is a valid therapeutic option available in the treatment of childhood and adult eczema. But until earlier this year, researchers were still unsure how or why the treatment worked. Scientists at the Department of Immunology, UCL Medical School, London discovered that selected Chinese herbs have a significant effect on the production of white blood cells and thereby affect the immune system, reducing allergic responses and alleviating inflammation.

1.British Journal of Dermatology (1992) 126 179-184 2.The Lancet Vol 340: July, 1992.

A new study demonstrates the effectiveness and safety of herbs in eczema

It is reported in an article published in the August, 2007 issue of the British Journal of Dermatology, that doctors at the Chinese University of Hong Kong conducted a double blind placebo controlled trial to established whether Chinese medicine has a beneficial effect in treating atopic eczema. Between February 2004 and July 2005, 85 children suffering with moderate to severe forms of this common childhood eczema where recruited for the trial. 42 children were given a mixture of five traditional Chinese herbs, which have long been used to treat eczema.

According to Chinese medicine these herbs, when combined in exact proportions have the effect of “clearing heat, draining dampness and resolving fire toxin” (a metaphorical but precise description for reducing inflammation, alleviating itching and controlling allergic response). The herbs where administered twice daily for 12 weeks. To ascertain their effectiveness, the remaining 43 children were given placebos (ingredients that have no medicinal effect, but are used as a control to establish if the active herbs do indeed make a difference) for the same duration of time. Despite the shortcomings of the trial (according to Chinese medicine typically a specific and varied group of herbs are prescribed individually to suit the characteristics of each patient, rather than one fixed formula that is used for all cases), by the end of the study, the conditions of the children who were given the herbs "significantly improved" and their use of corticosteroid creams and ointments was also "significantly reduced by one third". "Adverse events, tolerability, haematological and biochemical parameters were monitored during the study, and no serious adverse effects were observed between the groups".

Psoriasis and Chinese herbal medicine

A clinical trial at the famous Beijing Guan Anmen hospital, Department of Dermatology by professor Zhu Renkang enrolled 108 patients with widespread plaque psoriasis to investigate the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine in treating this stubborn disease. The patient group were assigned to one of two groups - either “Hot blood type”, or “Dry blood type” of psoriasis (in accordance to principles of Chinese medicine where the morphology of the lesions and other symptoms and signs, including the appearance of the tongue, is taken into account). The administration of Chinese herbs continued for up to 24 weeks (average was 18 weeks).

The following results were recorded:

“Hot blood” group (54 patients)
72.2% had total clearing of skin; 11.1% had significant improvement (over 80% improvement); 11.1% had some improvement (between 30-80% improvement); 3% had no change.

“Dry blood” group (54 patients)
59.2% had total clearing of skin; 16.7% had significant improvement (over 80% improvement); 18.5% had some improvement (between 30-80% improvement); 6% had no change.

The patients from both groups who had total clearing were followed up for 12-32 months and assessed for the condition of their skin. 63.6% remained stable, 5% had mild relapse, whilst 25% had total relapse.

(Reported in the Zhongyi Zazhi (The Journal of Traditional Chinese medicine) 1981. 4. P22-24 Author Zhuren Kang).

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Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of 58 cases of acne

58 patients with acne (15 men, and 43 women with age ranging between 16 - 38, average age being 27) were all given a standard water decoction based on the Chinese herbal formula Qing fei yi rou tang, but adjusted according to the morphology of the lesions and the constitution of the patient.

Results: After a variable time of treatment ranging from 2-6 months the following results were recorded.
46 cases were classified as clinically cured (all papules, pustules, nodules and cysts cleared, with no reoccurrence). 10 cases were classified as improved (reduction in all lesions, but mild reoccurrence on stopping the herbs) 2 cases no change.

(Xinzhongyi. New Journal of Chinese medicine 2001.4 – 33-4 Author: Zhouxin zhong)