Peptic prescriptions are mainly composed of peptic drugs with the function of promoting digestion, removing stagnation, and regulating the spleen and stomach, which are applied for the treatment of dyspepsia and stagnancy of food.
 
Since indigestion is usually the result of intemperance in eating and drinking or failure of the spleen in transporting and transforming food, peptic prescriptions are accordingly subdivided into two categories: prescriptions for promoting digestion by resolving stagnancy and prescriptions for promoting digestion by reinforcing the spleen.
 
The former is mainly made up of digestives and drugs with the functions of regulating the circulation of qi, purging away heat, eliminating dampness and clearing away heat, which have peptic action and are used for food retention in the interior due to impairment of the stomach as the result of overeating. The latter also consists chiefly of digestives in combination with drugs that supplement qiand reinforce the spleen. This group of prescriptions possesses the actions of activating qi and replenishing the spleen as well as promoting digestion and regulating the stomach, and is applicable to food retention in the interior due to weakness of the spleen and stomach.
 
Food retention in the interior often leads to disorders of qi activity and is likely to generate dampness and heat. Therefore in formulating a peptic recipe, it is necessary to employ proper drugs in the light of the degree of food stagnancy, qi stagnation, accumulation of dampness and heat. If food and dampness-heat are transformed into stagnancy and retain in the stomach and intestines, leading to abdominal pain and constipation or diarrhea, it is necessary to employ some purgatives to remove mass.