Rhubarb, also known as Da Huang, has been used medicinally in China for many centuries and is noted for the medicinal properties of its root. The Chinese Materia Medica described the traditional use including: “Purging heat and loosing the bowels, used for retention of the faeces and abdominal pain, fever with constipation and dysentery with inadequate discharge of the bowels…” In her famous book, A Modern Herbal published in 1931, Maud Grieve says R. palmatum, also called turkey rhubarb, can be distinguished from its relation, the familiar garden rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum), by its much larger size, the shape of its leaves and the “graceful looseness of its little panicles [cluster of flowers] of greenish-white flowers. The first buds which appear in spring are yellow, not red.” The flowers, however, can become purple-red as they grow.
The use of rhubarb root as a laxative for use in constipation is recognised and well documented in authoritative texts. It is used for short-term use in cases of occasional constipation by promoting intestinal contraction and movement. The correct individual dose is the smallest required to produce a comfortable soft-formed motion.
As a mild anthraquinone purgative rhubarb differs from other anthraquinone purgatives in that it exerts an astringent action after evacuation of the bowels. This makes it a true gut cleanser because it can firstly remove debris and then astringe the system with its antiseptic properties. It is therefore used traditionally as both a laxative and an antidiarrhoeal agent. The astringent bitter action predominates with small doses. To avoid any griping it is recommended to take rhubarb with carminatives such as ginger (Zingiber officinale).
References
Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Middlesex: Penguin Books; 1973. p. 676
European Medicines Agency. Assessment report on Rheum palmatum L. and Rheum
officinale Baillon, radix. Scientific Medicines Health. Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) (updated September 25 2019;accessed Jan 23 2024). Available from https://www.fitoterapia.net/archivos/201910/draft-assessment-report-rheum-palmatum-l-rheum-officinale-baillon-radix-revision-1_en.pdf?1
Xiang H, Zuo J, Guo F, Dong D. What we already know about rhubarb: a comprehensive review. Chin Med. 2020 Aug 26;15:88. doi: 10.1186/s13020-020-00370-6. PMID: 32863857; PMCID: PMC7448319
European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP) Monographs. Rhei Radix Rhubarb. 2018.
Notaries House:United Kingdom
European Medicines Agency. Assessment report on Rheum palmatum L. and Rheum
officinale Baillon, radix. Scientific Medicines Health. Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) (updated September 25 2019;accessed Jan 23 2024). Available from https://www.fitoterapia.net/archivos/201910/draft-assessment-report-rheum-palmatum-l-rheum-officinale-baillon-radix-revision-1_en.pdf?1
Hoffmann D. Medical Herbalism. Rochester: Healing Arts Press. 2003. p. 577
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