Be careful when using Vietnamese coriander

Persicaria odorata (scientific name: Polygonum odoratum, belonging to the Polygonaceae family) is a very familiar spice in tropical humid countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Vietnamese coriander is not drought tolerant, prefers tropical and subtropical climates because Vietnamese coriander likes humidity, is heat tolerant and can live in flooded environments. The vegetable is so easy to grow that it exists almost wild, because it has the ability to grow strong root shoots and stem shoots, flowering and fruiting every year on plants that are not cut or picked regularly.

The branches and leaves of Vietnamese coriander are both familiar vegetables and valuable medicinal herbs. Fresh Vietnamese coriander with reddish-purple stems is often used as medicine to treat diseases.

It is an annual herb, with more or less glands. The stem creeps at the base and takes root at the nodes, then stands up 30-35cm high. The leaves grow alternately, lanceolate, pointed or large at the tip, the petiole is very short, the leaf margin and the main vein are covered with long sharp hairs; the short sheath embraces the stem, has many parallel veins, most of which extend into long fibers.

Flowers form long, narrow, thin spikes, solitary or in pairs or in clusters with few branches. The medicinal parts include branches and leaves (Ramulus et Folium Polygoni Odorati), a precious medicine known since ancient times.

Chemical composition: Leaves have light yellow essential oil, pleasant cool aroma.Oriental medicine believes that Vietnamese coriander has a spicy taste, a pungent aroma, and warm properties. When eaten raw, Vietnamese coriander has the effect of warming the stomach, helping digestion, stimulating digestion, disinfecting, and dispelling cold.

Vietnamese coriander brightens the eyes, improves intelligence, and strengthens tendons and bones. Thanks to its spicy, warm taste, it helps with digestion and stimulates digestion, so it is often eaten with duck eggs, beef, chicken, clam porridge, and mussels to help increase appetite and warm the spleen and stomach.

However, it should be noted that when using Vietnamese coriander, although it is not toxic, if used regularly, with a large amount of Vietnamese coriander, it will reduce sexual desire, reduce desire in both men and women, reduce virility, blood will dry up, women may become amenorrhea (loss of menstrual cycle).

Therefore, monks often use Vietnamese coriander to avoid sexual urges and practice to attain enlightenment. This is a true story that has been happening for a long time in the life of the temple.

In folk medicine, people also use Vietnamese coriander to cause miscarriage (in cases of delayed menstruation of 1 week or less, or 5-9 days, the rate is up to 60-80%): Use 500g of fresh Vietnamese coriander, the type with red stems that are slightly purple (Vietnamese coriander with green-white stems does not cause miscarriage).Take only the stems and young leaves, remove the roots and old leaves, wash and drain. Pound, crush and squeeze out the juice to get about 250ml (1 cup). Drink it once only in the evening before going to bed. If there are results, the embryo will be expelled on its own that night or the next morning.

Therefore, pregnant women should not eat much Vietnamese coriander. Hot-blooded, thin people and women who are menstruating should also not eat Vietnamese coriander.

According to NNVN- TL