Millet

VARIANT NAMES: Guzi, Sugu, Foxtail Millet, Liangmi, Bailiangsu, Zimi, Yingsu, Hansu, Huangsu, Kezi, Shansu.

ORIGIN: The seed of Setaria italica [Gramineae].

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: Containing 63.27 % of starch, 1.41% of fat, 2.03% of reducing sugar, 2.48% of total nitrogen, 2.41% of protein nitrogen. The protein is composed of glutelin, prolamin, globulin, and contains a great deal of glutamic acid, proline, alanine and methionine. Besides, it contains solid and liquid fatty acids. The outside membrance of the seed contains a greater amount of vitamin B family and minerals (calcium, phosphorus and iron). Click here to learn Causes of Parkinson's Disease in TCM.

NATURE, FLAVOR AND CHANNEL TROPISM: Sweet, salty in flavor and cool in nature. Old millet is bitter in flavor and cold in nature, acting on the channels of the kidney, spleen and stomach.

EFFICIENCIES AND INDICATIONS: Regulating the middle-jiao, tonifying the kidney, removing pathogenic heat and poisonous quality of any substance. It is used to treat fever of deficiency type in the spleen and stomach, regurgitation of food from the stomach and vomiting, Diabetes and diarrhea. Old millet can arrest dysentery, relieve thirst and restlessness. Millet is appropriate for treating dripping urination resulting from damp-heat of the spleen, stomach and kidney.

DIRECTIONS: To be decocted or made into gruel. Less should be taken by those who are in a morbid condition re- suiting from insufficiency of genuine qi with endogenous cold manifested as light-colored urine. Don’t rub the seeds you’re your hands while washing them; avoid either soaking them in water for long or washing them in hot water. Click here to learn Stomachache in TCM.