Nature: sweet, warm

Enters: Spleen, Stomach, Lung

Actions: Tonifies spleen Qi; relaxes the muscles to relieve pain; moistens the Lungs; stops coughing.

Indications:
• Spleen Qi deficiency (including by overexertion): poor appetite, fatigue, shortness of breath.
• Lung Yin deficiency: dry, nonproductive cough, difficult or slow, labored breathing, weak voice.
• Spleen cold and Yang deficiency: abdominal pain (relieved by warmth and pressure), excessive salivation, pale tongue, white coating, deep, slow pulse.
• Not usually a chief herb for Qi tonification. Used to make a formula taste better.
• Weaker than Gan cao at relaxing the muscles to relieve pain.
• Compared to Dang shen, while Dang shen can be used for a deficiency-induced cough with profuse sputum, Yi tang is indicated more for a non-productive deficiency-induced cough.
• Contraindicated with vomiting, abdominal distention due to damp-heat, phlegm-heat cough, infant malnutrition.
• Preparation: barley malt is cooked with rice flour (glutinous or non-glutinous) or wheat flour.
• Rich in minerals.
• Dissolve in a strained decoction at the very end of cooking.
CDT: Made from grains such as glutinous or non-glutinous rice, wheat, millet, barley, maize, through fermentation.
• Performs functions listed above plus detoxifies.
• Spleen and stomach deficiency with loss of appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain: decoct with cinnamon twig, common peony, ginger, dates, licorice.
• Lung deficiency with dry cough, sore throat, shortness of breath: take Yi tang alone or steamed with turnip juice until it melts.
• Poisoning or unwanted reaction caused by overdose of Fu zi or Wu tou: take Yi tang immediately.
• Taken chewed, sucked, or decocted.

Dose: 30-60g