Wu Zhu Yu Tang: A Warming Remedy for Nausea and Cold
Health Lab- Feb 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 29
Evodia Soup, known as Wu Zhu Yu Tang, is a time-tested Chinese herbal formula from the ancient medical text Shanghan Lun. Designed to warm the body and restore balance, this remedy targets symptoms caused by coldness in the liver and stomach, such as nausea, vomiting, and chills.
By heating the digestive system and calming rebellious energy, Evodia Soup offers relief from discomfort and promotes vitality. Here’s a closer look at its ingredients, benefits, modern uses, and how to enhance its effects with simple dietary tips.
What’s in Wu Zhu Yu Tang?
This formula blends four herbs, each with a unique role:
Evodia Fruit (9g): The star herb, spicy and warming, it heats the stomach, stops vomiting, and soothes the liver to calm disruptive energy.
Ginseng (3 oz): Boosts energy, strengthens the spleen, and balances the formula’s heat while easing irritability.
Ginger (60g): Warms the stomach, fights nausea, and enhances evodia’s ability to dispel cold.
Jujube Dates (12 pieces): Softens the formula’s intensity, supports digestion, and aids ginseng’s nourishing effects.
To prepare, boil these herbs in 7 liters of water until reduced to 2 liters, strain, and drink about a cup of the warm liquid three times daily. Modern versions are often simmered as a simple decoction.
How It Works
Wu Zhu Yu Tang treats conditions caused by a cold, deficient liver and stomach, which can disrupt digestion and send energy upward, leading to:
Nausea or vomiting (acidic, clear saliva, or frothy)
Dry heaving
Chest tightness or abdominal pain
Headaches, especially at the crown
Cold hands, feet, or chills
Loose stools or irritability
Pale tongue with a white, slippery coating and a slow, wiry pulse
In Chinese medicine, the liver and stomach meridians are closely linked. When cold weakens these organs, digestion falters, causing nausea or vomiting.
The liver meridian, which reaches the head, can carry this disruptive energy upward, triggering headaches. Cold also saps the body’s warmth, leading to chills and loose stools. Evodia Soup warms the stomach, boosts energy, and redirects this rebellious energy to stop vomiting and ease pain.
Why It’s Effective
The formula’s herbs work in harmony:
Main Herb (Evodia Fruit): Warms the stomach and liver to stop vomiting and diarrhea.
Supporting Herb (Ginseng): Restores energy and calms the mind.
Helper Herb (Ginger): Enhances warmth and fights nausea.
Balancer Herb (Jujube Dates): Softens the formula’s intensity for gentle, balanced healing.
This combination tackles both the root cause (cold and deficiency) and symptoms like nausea and pain.
Modern Uses
Wu Zhu Yu Tang shines in modern medicine for digestive and neurological issues, including:
Chronic or Acute Gastritis: Warms the stomach to ease pain and vomiting.
Pregnancy Nausea: Safely reduces vomiting caused by stomach cold.
Neurotic Vomiting or Headaches: Calms the nervous system to relieve symptoms.
Meniere’s Disease: Eases dizziness and nausea.
Peptic Ulcers: Soothes stomach pain and vomiting.
Gastroesophageal Reflux, Heartburn, or Chest Tightness: Regulates digestion and energy flow.
Glaucoma or Migraines: Reduces symptoms by balancing the nervous system.
A 2022 study in Phytomedicine by Professor Gong Muxin’s team found that Evodia Soup helps chronic migraines by boosting serotonin levels in the brain and blood, reducing pain sensitivity.
Boosting Effects with Diet
Pairing Evodia Soup with warming foods can enhance its benefits. Try these:
Ginger and Jujube Tea: Boil ginger slices and jujube dates to warm the stomach and boost energy.
Jujube Porridge: Cook jujube dates with sticky rice to nourish the spleen and stomach.
Ginger Brown Sugar Drink: Simmer ginger with brown sugar for a warming, nausea-soothing tonic.
Ginseng Chicken Soup: Stewed ginseng and chicken strengthens the body and spleen.
Precautions
Wu Zhu Yu Tang or Evodia Soup is powerful but not for everyone:
Avoid in Heat-Related Cases: Don’t use for vomiting or headaches caused by stomach heat, yin deficiency, or liver yang excess.
Diet Restrictions: Skip spicy, greasy, raw, or cold foods during treatment to support the formula’s warming effects.
Monitor Reactions: Stop and consult a doctor if you feel unwell.
Conclusion
Wu Zhu Yu Tang or Evodia Soup is a cherished remedy for warming the body, easing nausea, and restoring balance in cases of liver and stomach cold. Its blend of evodia fruit, ginseng, ginger, and jujube dates offers gentle yet effective relief, backed by both ancient wisdom and modern research. By pairing it with warming foods and using it under proper guidance, you can harness its full potential to soothe discomfort and boost well-being.
Chinese Name | 吳茱萸湯 |
Phonetic | Wu Zhu Yu Tang |
English Name | Evodia Decoction |
Classification | Warming interior formulas |
Source | 《Treatise on Cold Damage》Shang Han Lun《傷寒論》 |
Combination | Euodiae Fructus (Wu Zhu Yu) 1 sheng (9g), Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Ren Shen) 3 liang (9g), Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens (Sheng Jiang) 6 liang (18g), Jujubae Fructus (Da Zao) 12 pcs (4 pieces) |
Method | Decoct these four medicinals with seven sheng of water, boil the decoction until two sheng of water is left, remove the dregs. Take the warm decoction three times a day. (Modern use: prepare as a decoction.) |
Action | Warms the center and supplements deficiency, directs counterflow downward and arrests vomiting. |
Indication | Wu Zhu Yu Tang is indicated for patterns of liver and stomach deficiency-cold with the upward reversal of turbid yin. The pattern is characterized by nausea after meals, acid regurgitation, belching, drooling of cold frothy saliva, fullness in the chest, stomach pain, vertex headache, aversion to cold, cold limbs with reversal counterflow cold of the four limbs, diarrhea, vexation and agitation, restlessness, a pale white tongue body and a white, slippery tongue coating, and a deep, wiry or slow pulse. |
Pathogenesis | This pattern is caused by deficiency-cold of the liver and stomach and the upward reversal of turbid yin. Due to the deficiency-cold of the liver and stomach, the stomach fails to descend and causes an upward reversal of turbid yin, which causes nausea after meals, acid regurgitation, belching, and drooling of cold frothy saliva. The jueyin channel passes through the stomach, belongs to the liver, and connects upward with the associated du mai at the vertex. The turbid yin of the stomach travels upward along the liver channel to disturb the head, which causes a vertex headache. Fullness of the chest and stomachache are caused by turbid yin obstruction and the disturbance of qi circulation. The body is unable to get warm because of the deficiency-cold of the liver and stomach and yang deficiency, which leads to an aversion to cold and cold limbs. The spleen and stomach are located in the middle jiao. Stomach illness affects the spleen causing the spleen’s failure to ascend the clear, and thus there is diarrhea. The pale tongue body with white tongue coating and the deep, wiry, and slow pulse are due to the deficiency-cold. The proper therapeutic method is to warm the center, supplement deficiency, direct counterflow downward, and arrest vomiting. |
Application | 1. Essential pattern differentiation Wu Zhu Yu Tang is a common formula used to treat deficiency-cold of the liver and stomach and the counterflow of turbid yin. This clinical pattern is marked by nausea after meals, vertex headache, belching, drooling of frothy saliva, aversion to cold, cold limbs, pale white tongue body and white, slippery tongue coating, wiry, thready, and slow pulse. 2. Modern applications This formula may be used in the following biomedically defined disorders when the patient shows signs of deficiency-cold of the liver and stomach: chronic gastritis, vomiting of pregnancy, nervous vomiting, nervous headache, and aural vertigo. 3. Cautions and contraindications This formula is prohibited for vomiting due to stomach heat or yin deficiency and for headaches due to the hyperactivity of liver yang. |
Remark | Ginseng (Panax ginseng) is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II. Its trade is allowed but subject to licensing controls |
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