Pao Jiang
StarZingiber officinale Roscoe
Also known as: P'ao Chiang · Wade–Giles
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Menstrual & women's health
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Bleeding disorders
☯ TCM Properties
Traditional Chinese Uses
Pao Jiang is dried ginger rhizome (Zingiber officinale) that has been blast-fried or charred until puffed and brown-black. This processing makes it bitter and astringent and warm (rather than hot), with its action shifting to the Spleen and Liver channels. It loses the strong interior-warming and Yang-rescuing power of Gan Jiang but gains a marked ability to warm the channels and stop bleeding, and to warm the middle and relieve pain.
It is used chiefly for Cold- and deficiency-type bleeding, especially uterine bleeding, prolonged post-partum lochia, and blood in the stool with Cold signs (pale blood, cold limbs, weak pulse), and for cold, cramping abdominal pain and chronic Cold diarrhea. Classic pairings include Pao Jiang with Ai Ye and Dang Gui. It is contraindicated in Heat patterns and used cautiously in pregnancy.
Western Herbalism Properties
Used In Formulas (6)
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Botanical Description
Pao Jiang is a processed form of the rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger), a perennial herbaceous plant in the Zingiberaceae cultivated throughout tropical and subtropical Asia. The aerial shoots are 0.6-1.2 m tall, with two-ranked, linear-lanceolate leaves 15-30 cm long arising from sheathing pseudostems. Inflorescences are dense cone-like spikes borne on separate short stalks from the rhizome, with pale yellow flowers marked purple. The medicinal organ is the underground branched, sympodial rhizome, pale buff externally and pale yellow internally, with a pungent aromatic odour. For Pao Jiang ("blast-fried ginger"), the dried mature rhizome (Gan Jiang) is dry-fried over high heat in sand or directly in a hot wok until the outer surface is uniformly scorched brownish-black and the interior is yellow-brown.
Active Constituents
6-Shogaol
Vanillyl ketone (phenylalkanone)Concentration: present only in traces in the fresh rhizome; the dominant pungent principle after high-temperature processing, rising as gingerols dehydrate
6-Shogaol is the dehydration product of 6-gingerol and is formed preferentially when ginger is dried or heated, so blast-fried (pao) ginger is relatively shogaol-rich compared with fresh ginger. It is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant in cell models and is generally regarded as the more pungent and more warming of the two.
6-Gingerol
Vanillyl ketone (phenylalkanone)Concentration: the principal pungent constituent of the fresh and simply dried rhizome; substantially depleted by stir-frying and by carbonisation
6-Gingerol accounts for much of raw ginger's pungency and for its in vitro inhibition of cyclooxygenase and of arachidonic-acid-induced platelet aggregation. Because blast-frying converts it to 6-shogaol, the processed drug carries less of it than raw or plain dried ginger.
Zingerone
Vanillyl ketone (methoxyphenol)Concentration: a thermal degradation product; increases with drying and frying temperature
Zingerone arises from retro-aldol cleavage of gingerols during heating and contributes the sweeter, less biting flavour of cooked and processed ginger. It is one of the five markers used to distinguish fresh, dried, stir-fried and carbonised ginger analytically.
Total phenolics of the processed rhizome
Phenolic compounds (mixed)Concentration: highest in plain dried ginger; roughly 2.4-fold lower in carbonised ginger than in dried ginger
Processing systematically lowers extractable phenolic content, and antioxidant activity tracks it in the order dried > stir-fried > fresh > carbonised. This is the measurable chemical basis for treating pao jiang as a different drug from gan jiang rather than a milder version of it.
Carbonised-ginger carbon dots (CG-CDs)
Carbonaceous nanoparticlesConcentration: isolated from the aqueous extract of high-temperature-processed ginger; mean particle diameter about 4.07 nm
Nanoparticles formed during carbonisation, absent from the unprocessed herb. In rodent bleeding models they shortened bleeding time and clotting time, raised fibrinogen and TXB2 and lowered t-PA and 6-keto-PGF1alpha, which is the first mechanistic account offered for why charred ginger is used as a haemostatic when raw ginger is not.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Warfarin
Ginger constituents inhibit cyclooxygenase and arachidonic-acid-induced platelet aggregation in vitro, giving a pharmacodynamic rationale for additive bleeding risk. However, an open-label three-way crossover study in 12 healthy men found that ginger at recommended doses did not alter the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of a 25 mg warfarin dose, did not change S-warfarin or R-warfarin protein binding or volume of distribution, and did not change CYP2C9 activity as measured by S-7-hydroxywarfarin urinary excretion. A 2017 systematic review reached the same conclusion. The signal rests on isolated case reports of raised INR, including one with phenprocoumon.
Clinical note: Do not withhold pao jiang on this basis alone, but check INR when starting or stopping it in an anticoagulated patient, and treat any unexplained INR rise as potentially herb-related.
Antiplatelet agents (aspirin, clopidogrel)
A systematic review of 10 human studies (8 clinical trials, 2 observational) found the evidence that ginger affects platelet aggregation to be equivocal: four trials showed reduced aggregation and four showed none. Effects, where seen, clustered at higher doses (5 g and above), well above the 3-9 g/day of decocted pao jiang and far above the doses used for nausea.
Clinical note: No routine restriction at normal decoction doses. Advise patients on dual antiplatelet therapy to report unusual bruising if taking large or prolonged doses.
CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 substrates
Ginger extract and isolated 6-gingerol inhibit CYP2C9 and CYP3A4 in microsomal assays at micromolar concentrations, and molecular modelling of ginger constituents predicts inhibition of CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4. Controlled human probe studies with warfarin (CYP2C9) have not shown a corresponding change in metabolism, so the in vitro finding has not translated.
Clinical note: No dose adjustment is warranted on current evidence. Note that pao jiang is shogaol- rather than gingerol-dominant, so the in vitro data on 6-gingerol may not even describe the processed drug.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 3–9 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】3～9g。 【性味与归经】辛，热。归脾、胃、肾经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value. |
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Pao Jiang. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
1 RCT · 4 studies on recordRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
In vitro / animal
2
0 verified · 2 unverified
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Carbon dots derived from Zingiber officinale Rosc (ginger) with hemostatic effects
Carbon dots were extracted from the aqueous solution of carbonised ginger and characterised at about 4.07 nm. In mouse tail-bleeding and liver-injury bleeding models plus capillary coagulation assays they shortened bleeding time, reduced blood loss and shortened clotting time, with raised fibrinogen and TXB2 and lowered t-PA and 6-keto-PGF1alpha. This is preclinical and directly addresses the processed drug rather than raw ginger.
Chemical characterization and antioxidant activities comparison in fresh, dried, stir-frying and carbonized ginger
UPLC/QTOF-MS identified 27 compounds across fresh, dried, stir-fried and carbonised ginger, and UPLC-PDA quantified zingerone, 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 6-shogaol and 10-gingerol. Antioxidant activity ranked dried > stir-fried > fresh > carbonised, with dried ginger's phenolic content 5.2-, 1.1- and 2.4-fold that of fresh, stir-fried and carbonised ginger. Confirms that pao jiang is chemically a distinct drug from gan jiang.
Effect of ginkgo and ginger on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of warfarin in healthy subjects
Open-label, three-way crossover randomised study in 12 healthy male subjects given a single 25 mg dose of warfarin alone or after 7 days of pretreatment with recommended doses of ginkgo or ginger. Neither herb affected clotting status, warfarin pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics; the S-7-hydroxywarfarin urinary excretion rate ratio for ginger was 1.00 (0.81-1.23), indicating no effect on CYP2C9.
The Effect of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) on Platelet Aggregation: A Systematic Literature Review
Ten human studies (8 clinical trials, 2 observational) were reviewed. Four trials found ginger reduced platelet aggregation and four found no effect, with the observational data equally split. The authors concluded the evidence is equivocal; effects clustered at doses of 5 g or more.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Bleeding disorders
Contraindications
Its use is prohibited in pregnant women and patients with yin deficiency and fever.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 225–226.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing
Han dynastyLei Gong Pao Zhi Lun
Northern and Southern dynasties (c. 500 CE)Ben Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynastyReferences
- Chen Z, Ye SY, Yang Y, Li ZY. A review on charred traditional Chinese herbs: carbonization to yield a haemostatic effect . Pharmaceutical Biology (2019) [DOI]
- Choi S, Oh DS, Jerng UM. A systematic review of the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions of herbal medicine with warfarin . PLOS ONE (2017) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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