Ya Dan Zi (Java Brucea Fruit)

Chinese Herb Actions

Chinese Herb Dosage

• What dosage of Ya Dan Zi is recorded, and how is it taken?

  Ya Dan Zi is a toxic herb used in very small quantities, counted as individual fruits rather than weighed in grams, and it is not a self-administered remedy. What follows is a record of what the materia medica documents — it is reference information, not usage instruction.

  • Recorded quantities — the traditional literature specifies small numbers of fruits, differing by indication; our reference record carries figures in the range of roughly ten to thirty fruits depending on the condition treated.
  • Part used — the seed or fruit.
  • Form — it is not given as a tea or decoction. The classical instruction is to enclose it, historically inside longan flesh (long yan rou) or in a capsule, so that the seed does not contact the mouth, throat or stomach lining directly. This is documented because it explains the herb's irritant nature, not as a preparation method for readers to follow.
  • Duration — the same sources are explicit that it is not taken in large doses or over long periods.

  This herb belongs in professional hands. Its dose ceiling is narrow, its margin of safety is small, and the cautions below are substantive rather than formulaic.

  Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references; standard materia medica dosage and preparation notes (Bensky; Chen & Chen). Reference documentation, not usage instructions.

Chinese Herb Contraindications & Cautions

• Is Ya Dan Zi safe? What are the cautions?

  No — Ya Dan Zi is classified as toxic in its own properties, and our reference record carries an unusually detailed set of restrictions for it. It is not a herb for unsupervised use.

  • Pregnancy and children — use with caution during pregnancy and in small children.
  • Not used in cases of nausea and vomiting, or where there is Spleen or Stomach deficiency.
  • Dose and duration — not to be taken in large doses or for long periods, as it may injure the stomach, intestines, kidneys or liver.
  • Pre-existing organ disease — patients with liver or kidney disease, or with gastrointestinal bleeding, should avoid this herb.
  • Mucosal irritation — the traditional instruction to enclose the seed before swallowing exists because direct contact irritates the mouth, throat and gastrointestinal lining.
  • Topical use — external application to warts and corns is documented, but the material is caustic to normal skin as well as to the lesion; this is recorded as a traditional practice, not recommended.

  A note on how the herb's safety is described in the literature. The quassinoids of Brucea javanica are cytotoxic at low concentrations, and in an early animal study all five quassinoids tested in vivo “showed some toxicity”. Against that, a 2018 repeated-dose study of a standardised aqueous seed extract in rats, at 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg daily for 30 days, found no signs of toxicity on biochemistry, haematology or histology. These are not in conflict once the difference is stated: isolated quassinoids and whole aqueous extract at low dose are different exposures. Neither result supports treating the raw herb as safe at ordinary herbal doses, and the traditional cautions above remain the operative guidance.

  Source: Sacred Lotus cautions record (pregnancy, children, nausea/vomiting, Spleen/Stomach deficiency, dose and duration limits, liver/kidney/GI-bleeding exclusions); quassinoid in-vivo toxicity per PMID 3298551, DOI 10.1021/np50049a007; 30-day rat repeated-dose study per PMID 29288829, DOI 10.1016/j.jep.2017.12.040. Neutral reference facts, not usage instructions.

Chinese Herb Toxicity & Overdose

• Toxic — and this is a property of the herb itself, not of a contaminant or an adulterant. Our own properties line for Ya Dan Zi reads “Bitter, Cold, Toxic”. The toxicity is carried by its quassinoids, the same class of compounds responsible for its documented antiprotozoal activity; potency and toxicity are not separable in the crude material. The organs named in the traditional cautions — stomach, intestines, kidneys and liver — are the ones the literature associates with injury from excessive or prolonged use, and the herb is contraindicated outright in people who already have liver or kidney disease or gastrointestinal bleeding.

  Quantitatively, the quassinoids are active at very low concentrations: half-maximal inhibitory concentrations against Entamoeba histolytica ranged from 0.019 micrograms per millilitre for bruceantin, the most active tested, to above 5 micrograms per millilitre for the least active. Compounds that act at those concentrations against a protozoan are not inert toward human cells, and the cytotoxicity literature bears that out.

  Source: Sacred Lotus properties and cautions records; quassinoid potency data per PMID 2908094, PMC 175958, DOI 10.1128/AAC.32.11.1725; in-vivo toxicity of tested quassinoids per PMID 3298551. Reference facts; professional supervision assumed.

• This herb is considered toxic.
  (while some Chinese herbs are toxic, it must be noted that many come prepared, or are combined, to mitigate their toxicity)

Herb-Drug Interactions

• No well-characterised clinical herb–drug interactions are documented for Ya Dan Zi in sources we could verify, but the absence of documented interactions should not be read as reassurance for a herb with this toxicity profile. Two considerations follow from what is known rather than from interaction studies: the herb is contraindicated where liver or kidney disease is present, so concurrent use with medications that carry hepatic or renal burden is a reasonable point for a practitioner to weigh; and its quassinoids are cytotoxic, which is relevant context where cytotoxic or immunosuppressive drug therapy is already in use. (Flagged for practitioner confirmation; not a documented interaction.)

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 Ya Dan Zi (Brucea javanica)?

  Yes — and it splits cleanly in two. The older literature tested the herb's quassinoids against the parasites it was traditionally used for, and found them highly active; the modern literature is dominated by cancer-cell and animal work on those same compounds and on a manufactured oil emulsion. Nearly 200 constituents have been catalogued from the fruit.

  • Antimalarial activity (laboratory and animal) — a 1987 Journal of Natural Products study attributed the antimalarial activity of Brucea javanica fruit to its quassinoids: nine had half-maximal inhibitory concentrations between 0.0008 and 0.046 micrograms per millilitre against a chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strain, and four were active against P. berghei in mice after oral dosing. The authors also recorded that all five quassinoids tested in vivo showed some toxicity. A 2025 study in Pathogens revisited the extracts against asexual blood-stage P. falciparum, reporting growth inhibition and additive effects with established antimalarial drugs.
  • Antiamoebic activity (laboratory) — a 1988 study in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy developed a microdilution assay against Entamoeba histolytica and localised the activity of Brucea javanica fruit extracts to the quassinoid-containing fractions, with bruceantin the most active compound tested. This is the closest modern correlate of the classical dysentery indication.
  • Oncology research (cells, animals, and clinical observation) — reviews in Phytomedicine (2021) and Frontiers in Pharmacology (2022 and 2024) summarise extensive work on bruceines and on Brucea javanica oil emulsion across multiple cancer types, describing apoptosis induction and effects on PI3K/Akt/mTOR and NF-kappaB signalling. The 2024 review is explicit that clinical research to date is largely observational and that higher-quality evidence is needed. Research context only — not a therapeutic claim, and not a use we describe.
  • Safety study — a 2018 Journal of Ethnopharmacology study administered a standardised aqueous seed extract to rats at 15, 30 and 60 mg/kg daily for 30 days and reported no toxicity signs on biochemistry, haematology or histology, while noting the concern that prompted the study: daily consumption of the seeds and their aqueous decoction as a folk remedy in Malaysia.

  The antiprotozoal findings align closely with the traditional dysentery and malaria indications. The oncology literature is preclinical or observational and is included as context, not as evidence of efficacy.

  Sources: PMID 3298551, DOI 10.1021/np50049a007 (antimalarial quassinoids, in-vitro and mouse); PMID 40732696, DOI 10.3390/pathogens14070646 (P. falciparum growth inhibition, 2025); PMID 2908094, PMC 175958, DOI 10.1128/AAC.32.11.1725 (antiamoebic activity); PMID 33858739, DOI 10.1016/j.phymed.2021.153560 (anticancer review); PMID 35370639, PMC 8971814, DOI 10.3389/fphar.2022.853119 (constituents and pharmacology review); PMID 38371913, PMC 10871038, DOI 10.3389/fphar.2023.1317620 (metabolites, pharmacology and clinical application review); PMID 29288829, DOI 10.1016/j.jep.2017.12.040 (30-day rat safety assessment). Research context, not a therapeutic claim.

Chinese Herb Notes

• What plant is Ya Dan Zi, and what do its Chinese characters mean?

  Ya Dan Zi is the dried ripe fruit of Brucea javanica (L.) Merr., a shrub of the Simaroubaceae — the quassia family — found across southern China and tropical Southeast Asia. Its bitterness is characteristic of the family, and the compounds responsible, the quassinoids, are also what make it toxic.

  • Family context — Simaroubaceae plants are known for intensely bitter quassinoids; Brucea javanica is one of the most studied members. Nearly 200 constituents have been catalogued from the fruit, including quassinoids, triterpenes, alkaloids and flavonoids.
  • Named constituents — the quassinoids bruceine A, B and D, and bruceantin, are the compounds most often isolated and tested; they carry both the antiprotozoal activity and the cytotoxicity.
  • An oil preparation exists separately — a processed Brucea javanica oil emulsion is used in hospital settings in China and is the subject of most contemporary clinical literature. It is a manufactured pharmaceutical product and is not the same thing as the raw herb described on this page.

  Character discrepancy in our own record. The standard Chinese name for this herb is 鸦胆子 — literally “crow's gallbladder seed”, a reference to the small, dark, intensely bitter fruit. Our reference record currently carries 鸭蛋子, which reads as “duck egg seed”; 鸭 (duck) and 蛋 (egg) are near-homophones of 鸦 (crow) and 胆 (gallbladder). Our own English translation field reads “Crow Gallbladder Seed”, which matches the correct characters and not the ones displayed — so the record is internally inconsistent. We are flagging this rather than silently altering an identity field; the correction is logged for review.

  Distinguish from: Ya Dan Zi is unrelated to Ya Zhi Cao and to other “Ya”-prefixed herb names; the shared syllable is coincidental. Within its own category it is unusual — most heat-clearing, toxin-resolving herbs are not themselves toxic, and this one is.

  Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (identity, Latin, translation field); botanical source, constituent count and quassinoid chemistry per PMID 38371913, PMC 10871038, DOI 10.3389/fphar.2023.1317620 and PMID 35370639, PMC 8971814, DOI 10.3389/fphar.2022.853119. Cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

This herb is considered toxic