Bei Sha Shen (Glehnia Root)

Chinese Herb Actions

Chinese Herb Dosage

• What is the typical dosage of Bei Sha Shen?

  Commonly 9–15 g in decoction (some sources specify 10–15 g; a lower classical range of 4.5–9 g also appears). As a mild, food-grade root it is also gently simmered in yin-nourishing soups and teas alongside herbs such as Mai Men Dong and Yu Zhu, not only decocted as medicine.

  Source: Bensky, Materia Medica (3rd ed.); Chen & Chen, Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica — standard materia medica ranges. Reference only — not a prescription.

Chinese Herb Contraindications & Cautions

• Are there cautions or contraindications for Bei Sha Shen?

  Bei Sha Shen is sweet and cold, so it is contraindicated in Spleen/Stomach cold from deficiency (yang-deficiency cold with loose stools or cold limbs), and used cautiously where there is copious thin or watery phlegm, since cold, moistening herbs can aggravate both patterns. It is also traditionally incompatible with Li Lu (Veratrum, Radix Et Rhizoma Veratri).

  • Li Lu incompatibility (herb-herb, not herb-drug) — Bei Sha Shen belongs to the “Shen” group of the classical Eighteen Incompatible Medicaments (十八反, Shi Ba Fan), whose mnemonic states that “all the ginsengs/shens, Xi Xin, and Shao Yao rebel against Li Lu.” This database’s own interaction records confirm the pairing directly and list 10 herbs recorded as incompatible with Li Lu, including both Bei Sha Shen and Nan Sha Shen (Sha Shen), Ren Shen, Dang Shen, Xuan Shen, Dan Shen, Ku Shen, Xi Xin, Bai Shao, and Chi Shao — the “Shen / Xin / Shao” group that, together with the separate Wu Tou and Gan Cao incompatibility groups, makes up the traditional eighteen.

  Source: Bensky, Materia Medica (3rd ed.); Chen & Chen, Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica; classical Eighteen Incompatible Medicaments mnemonic; Sacred Lotus herb_cautions records (Li Lu ↔ Bei Sha Shen).

Chinese Herb Toxicity & Overdose

• Low. Bei Sha Shen is a food-grade root with a long history of dietary use (e.g., in Cantonese yin-nourishing soups) and no significant intrinsic toxicity reported at normal therapeutic doses. The principal documented safety concern is not toxicity but the classical Li Lu incompatibility noted above.

  Source: materia medica consensus; no toxicity signal in the phytochemical/pharmacology research reviewed below.

Herb-Drug Interactions

• No well-established clinical herb–drug interactions are documented for Bei Sha Shen. Its one clearly recorded interaction is the classical herb-herb incompatibility with Li Lu (see cautions), not a pharmaceutical drug interaction. Glehnia littoralis does contain coumarin-type constituents (e.g., bergaptol glycosides, pyranocoumarins); no clinical anticoagulant-interaction data were found in the literature reviewed, but this compound class is a reasonable basis for routine practitioner awareness in patients on anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy. (Precautionary note, not a demonstrated interaction — flagged for practitioner confirmation.)

Western / Biomedical Research

Chinese Herb Clinical Studies & Research

Provided as research context — a summary of published biomedical study, not a therapeutic or medical claim.

• Is there modern research on Bei Sha Shen (Glehnia littoralis)?

  Yes — phytochemical and preclinical (cell- and animal-model) research, with no human clinical trials identified. Glehnia littoralis has yielded well over 150 identified constituents, chiefly coumarins, polyacetylenes, polysaccharides, and lignans.

  • Anti-inflammatory (in vitro) — pyranocoumarins isolated from Glehnia littoralis inhibited LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells (IC50 range roughly 7–44 µM); cell-line evidence, not clinical.
  • Immunomodulatory, antioxidant & antitumor (preclinical) — a 2025 review of Glehnia littoralis polysaccharides (GLPs) reports enhanced natural-killer-cell cytotoxicity and T-lymphocyte activation, free-radical-scavenging activity, and antitumor effects (including angiogenesis inhibition via VEGF/VEGFR-2 signaling) in cell-line and animal/zebrafish models; the review states that no human clinical trials of isolated GLPs have been reported.
  • Phytochemistry — isolation studies have characterized novel coumarin glycosides (e.g., bergaptol 5-O-β-D-gentiobioside) and identify coumarins and polyacetylenes as the compound classes most associated with the plant’s anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiproliferative, and antitussive activity in laboratory studies.

  Overall, the pharmacological picture is consistent with (and offers plausible mechanisms for) the traditional Lung/Stomach-yin actions, but the evidence base remains preclinical; no controlled human trials were located.

  Sources: PMID 31915441, PMC 6931029, DOI 10.1155/2019/1253493 (systematic review, Glehnia ethnopharmacology/phytochemistry/pharmacology); PMID 41226136, DOI 10.3390/molecules30214173 (2025 review, Glehnia littoralis polysaccharides); PMID 24813739 (pyranocoumarins, LPS-induced NO inhibition in RAW 264.7 cells); PMID 18229615 (novel coumarin glycoside isolation). Research context, not a therapeutic claim.

Chinese Herb Notes

• How is Bei Sha Shen different from Nan Sha Shen?

  Both “Sha Shen” herbs nourish Lung and Stomach yin, clear heat, and generate fluids for dry cough and dry mouth, but Nan Sha Shen (Adenophora) also expels phlegm and mildly tonifies qi, while Bei Sha Shen (Glehnia) is the more purely yin-nourishing and moistening of the two. In practice, Bei Sha Shen is the closer fit for pure dryness with little or no phlegm, while Nan Sha Shen is favored when dryness is complicated by phlegm or by qi deficiency.

  • Nan Sha Shen (Adenophora / “Sha Shen” in this database) — nourishes Lung yin, stops cough, and additionally dispels phlegm; carries a mild qi-tonifying action; better suited to cough with scanty, difficult-to-expectorate sputum.
  • Bei Sha Shen (Glehnia) — nourishes Lung and Stomach yin and generates fluids, without a phlegm-resolving or qi-tonifying action; more purely moistening; favored for dry, non-productive cough and Stomach-yin dryness (thirst, dry mouth, peeled tongue).

  Common combinations: with Sang Ye, Xing Ren, Zhe Bei Mu, Zhi Zi, and Dan Dou Chi in Sang Xing Tang (Mulberry Leaf & Apricot Kernel Decoction), a formula for early, mild warm-dryness attacking the Lung — confirmed in this database’s formula records. Classically it is also paired with Mai Men Dong, Yu Zhu, Tian Hua Fen, and Sang Ye (the Sha Shen Mai Dong Tang framework) for Lung/Stomach yin deficiency following a febrile disease. (Traditional formula context, not treatment advice.)

  Source: Bensky, Materia Medica (3rd ed.); Chen & Chen, Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica; Sacred Lotus Sacred Lotus sources & references (Sang Xing Tang).

This herb is incompatible with:

• Li Lu (Radix Et Rhizoma Veratri)