Gastric ulcer treated with TCM Szechuan peppercorns

What are Szechuan peppercorns(Hua Jiao)? No matter being called Sichuan, Szechuan, or Szechwan peppercorns, it refers to the dried ripe pods of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. Or pepper Z. bungeanum Maxim., which are in the family of Rutaceae in China. Peppercorn as it is named, it is not a real pepper at all, conventionally at least. Instead, it is kind of berry grown on the plant called Chinese prickly ash. In addition, its seeds, known as Zanthoxyli Semen, or Jiao Mu, are also used medicinally. It can be found in most parts of China, but it is named schezwan pepper corn simply because the product there is of the best quality. And sometimes it is called Chinese flower pepper and Sichuan numbing pepper because its unique spicy and hot taste.

The medicinal Szechuan peppercorns are usually collected in fall when the fruits are ripe. Afterwards the impurities should be removed before drying them in the sun. And then the pods are isolated from the seeds because they are used in different purposes medicinally.

Sichuan peppercorns health benefits
As mentioned earlier, this is also a very valuable herb that can be of big help to a variety of diseases. So now let’s take a look at what exactly this herb can do to us.

Chemical composition
Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim. contains volatile oil, which has limonene and cumyl alcohol. In addition, it also consists of geraniol, phytosterols, and unsaturated fatty acids. Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. contains volatile oil, which has isoanethole (estragole, methyl chavicol), bergapten and benzoic acid. Both of these two volatile oils still include α-pinene, β-pinene, sabinene, β-phellandrene, β-ocimene-X, α-terpineol, linalool, terpineol-4, α-terpineol, trans-caryophyllene, terpineol acetate, humulene, and so on.

Modern pharmacological action
It can antagonize experimental gastric ulcer of animals;
It has two-way adjustment in the in vitro experiments as an animal model for humans. That’s to say, it excites when in small dose and inhibits when in large dose;
It has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect;
Its volatile oil has a certain inhibition and killing effect on 11 kinds of dermatophytes and 4 kinds of deep funguses, among which microsporum lanosum and trichophyton rubrum are the most sensitive. What’s more, it kills the sarcoptic mites too.