Zhi Ju Zi
StarHovenia dulcis Thunb.
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Bowel health
- Urinary & fluids
- Mood & calm
Cautions & contraindications
- Diabetes
☯ TCM Properties
Relieves Alcohol Toxicity; Eliminates Irritability and Relieves Thirst; Promotes Urination and Reduces Edema; Stops Vomiting; Promotes Bowel and Urinary Movement
Traditional Chinese Uses
Zhi Ju Zi (hovenia fruit peduncle, Japanese raisin tree) is a sweet, cool herb used in Chinese medicine to quench thirst, relieve nausea from alcohol intoxication, and reduce the effects of excessive alcohol consumption. It is recognized as one of the premier herbs for alcohol metabolism and detoxification — clearing Heat from alcohol, settling the Stomach, and restoring the body's normal fluid balance after drinking. Modern research has identified its active compounds for liver-protective and alcohol-metabolizing effects.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Hovenia dulcis, Japanese raisin tree or Zhi Ju Zi, is a deciduous tree in the Rhamnaceae family native to East Asia and growing 10-20 m tall, with a rounded crown and grayish-brown furrowed bark. Leaves are alternate, broadly ovate to elliptic, 8-17 cm long, with three to five prominent veins from a rounded to slightly cordate base and finely serrated margins. Small fragrant greenish-white five-petalled flowers are borne in terminal and axillary cymes in early summer. The distinctive feature is the fleshy, swollen, reddish-brown, contorted fruiting peduncle that ripens sweet and edible; the actual fruit is a small dry three-seeded capsule borne at its tips.
Active Constituents
Dihydromyricetin
DihydroflavonolConcentration: Named as a principal chemical component of the drug in review; content differs markedly between the seed, the fruit and the fleshy peduncle, and commercial hangover products are standardised on it
Significantly induced both alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase activity in Hepa1c1c7 hepatoma cells. Notably, in the same study the small hydrophilic organic fraction, not dihydromyricetin, accounted for most of the whole extract's activity, so dihydromyricetin content alone is a poor proxy for the herb's effect.
Quercetin
FlavonolConcentration: Named as a principal component of Hovenia dulcis in review; not routinely assayed in the crude drug
Contributes to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory arms of the herb's action on alcohol-associated liver disease. It is one of the components through which the herb is proposed to act on oxidative stress and autophagy pathways.
Beta-sitosterol
PhytosterolConcentration: Named as a principal component of Hovenia dulcis in review
A widely distributed plant sterol contributing to the lipid-metabolism and anti-inflammatory effects attributed to the herb in alcohol-associated liver disease.
Hovenia dulcis peduncle polysaccharides
PolysaccharidesConcentration: A major fraction of the fleshy fruit peduncle; the fraction responsible for much of the whole-extract activity is water-soluble
In alcohol-exposed mice, peduncle polysaccharides reduced intestinal dysbiosis and corrected hepatic fatty acid metabolism disorders. This is a gut-mediated rather than a direct hepatic-enzyme mechanism, and it belongs to the peduncle, not to the seed.
Total flavonoids of Hovenia dulcis seed
Flavonoid fractionConcentration: Prepared as a defined fraction of the seed for pharmacological study rather than assayed in the dispensed drug
Ameliorated hepatic fibrosis in vitro and in vivo by modulating PI3K and AKT signalling. This is the one recent study performed specifically on the seed, which is the part named by the Latin drug name Semen Hoveniae.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Ethanol
This is the herb's defining interaction and the reason it is used at all. In rats, a boiling-water extract of the fruit and peduncle reduced blood ethanol concentrations; in mice fed the powdered drug for seven days and in Hepa1c1c7 cells, it induced the activity, messenger RNA and protein of both alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH1B) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH1A1 and ALDH2). That both arms are induced matters: inducing alcohol dehydrogenase alone would accelerate the production of acetaldehyde, which is the toxic and carcinogenic intermediate, without accelerating its removal. In a double-blind randomised crossover trial in 30 subjects, blood alcohol was significantly lower than placebo at 0.5 and 6 hours with the fruit extract, but blood acetaldehyde was significantly lower than placebo only in the arm combining the extract with Pueraria lobata, and only at 6 hours. So the acetaldehyde benefit in humans is weaker and less consistent than the ethanol-clearance benefit.
Clinical note: Do not present this herb as making drinking safe. It measurably shortens ethanol exposure and eases hangover gastrointestinal symptoms, but human evidence that it lowers acetaldehyde is thin, and acetaldehyde is the carcinogenic species. The greatest real-world harm from the herb is likely to be behavioural, through licensing heavier drinking.
Disulfiram
Disulfiram works by inhibiting acetaldehyde dehydrogenase so that drinking produces a punishing acetaldehyde surge. Hovenia dulcis extract induces both alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in animal and cell models. In principle the induction of alcohol dehydrogenase would worsen a disulfiram reaction by producing acetaldehyde faster, while the induction of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase would blunt the deterrent that the therapy depends on. Neither direction has been tested in a human on disulfiram. Both are undesirable.
Clinical note: Do not give Zhi Ju Zi to a patient on disulfiram. The same caution applies to metronidazole and to cephalosporins carrying a methyltetrazolethiol side chain, which produce disulfiram-like reactions.
Insulin, sulfonylureas and other glucose-lowering drugs
Quercetin and Hovenia dulcis polysaccharide complexes inhibit alpha-glucosidase and mitigated hyperglycaemia in laboratory study. Alpha-glucosidase inhibition is the mechanism of acarbose. No human glycaemic study of the herb has been published, and the effect size at food or dispensary doses is unknown. Alcohol itself is a more potent and more erratic influence on blood glucose than this herb, which is worth stating to anyone taking the herb in a drinking context.
Clinical note: A diabetic patient using this herb around alcohol should be reminded that alcohol, not the herb, is the main hypoglycaemia risk, and should check glucose rather than assume.
Substitution of the fruit peduncle for the seed
The Latin drug name Semen Hoveniae designates the seed, but nearly all published pharmacology and every human trial has used the fruit, the fleshy fruit peduncle, or an extract of both. The peduncle polysaccharide data and the human hangover trials are peduncle and fruit data. Only one recent study, on total flavonoids and hepatic fibrosis, was performed on the seed itself. Commercial material sold as Zhi Ju Zi is frequently the dried fruit with peduncle rather than isolated seed, and the two differ in polysaccharide content.
Clinical note: When citing the hangover and hepatoprotective evidence to a patient, say that it comes from the fruit and peduncle. Ask suppliers which part they are actually shipping, and do not assume that seed-only material carries the trial evidence.
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 5 studiesRecorded 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
2
0 verified · 2 unverified
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
3
2 verified · 1 unverified
Show 3 studies
- Effects of Hovenia dulcis fruit and peduncle extract on alcohol metabolism
- Total Flavonoids of Hovenia dulcis Seeds Ameliorate Hepatic Fibrosis via Modulating PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway In Vitro and In Vivo
- Hovenia dulcis Fruit Peduncle Polysaccharides Reduce Intestinal Dysbiosis and Hepatic Fatty Acid Metabolism Disorders in Alcohol-Exposed Mice
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
Efficacy of Hovenia dulcis Fruit Extract in Hangover Mitigation: Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Evaluation
Randomised, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled trial in 30 subjects comparing beverages with 0.475 percent Hovenia dulcis fruit extract alone, combined with 0.1 percent Pueraria lobata extract, or combined with 0.02 percent glutathione yeast extract. Blood alcohol was significantly lower than placebo at 0.5 and 6 hours for the fruit extract and the Pueraria combination; blood acetaldehyde was significantly lower than placebo only in the Pueraria combination arm and only at 6 hours. No differences in haematology or vital signs. The plant part is the fruit, not the seed.
Clinical Evaluation of Hovenia dulcis Extract Combinations for Effective Hangover Relief in Humans
Randomised, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled trial in 25 adults aged 19 to 40. Blood alcohol was significantly lower than placebo at 0.25 and 0.5 hours in the Pueraria lobata and glutathione yeast combination arms, and all treatment arms significantly reduced the gastrointestinal component of the hourly Acute Hangover Scale. The trial tests combination beverages rather than the single herb, so it cannot attribute the effect to Hovenia dulcis alone.
Effects of Hovenia dulcis fruit and peduncle extract on alcohol metabolism
A boiling-water extract of the dried fruit and peduncle lowered blood ethanol in rats when given 30 minutes before ethanol, and induced the activity plus messenger RNA and protein expression of ADH1B, ALDH1A1 and ALDH2 in mouse liver and Hepa1c1c7 cells. Dihydromyricetin induced both enzyme activities in cells, but the small hydrophilic organic fraction contributed most of the whole extract's effect. This is the study that answers the acetaldehyde question in the favourable direction, at animal and cell level.
Total Flavonoids of Hovenia dulcis Seeds Ameliorate Hepatic Fibrosis via Modulating PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway In Vitro and In Vivo
Total flavonoids prepared from Hovenia dulcis seed reduced hepatic fibrosis in cell and animal models through PI3K and AKT signalling. This is the study that uses the plant part actually named by the Latin drug name Semen Hoveniae, and it addresses liver fibrosis rather than acute intoxication.
Hovenia dulcis Fruit Peduncle Polysaccharides Reduce Intestinal Dysbiosis and Hepatic Fatty Acid Metabolism Disorders in Alcohol-Exposed Mice
Polysaccharides from the fruit peduncle reduced intestinal dysbiosis and corrected hepatic fatty acid metabolism in alcohol-exposed mice, indicating a gut-microbiota-mediated component to the herb's hepatoprotection that is separate from hepatic enzyme induction. Peduncle material, not seed.
Historical Texts
Xin Xiu Ben Cao (Newly Revised Materia Medica), compiled under Su Jing
Tang dynasty, 659 CEBen Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- He YX, Liu MN, Wang YY, Wu H, Wei M, Xue JY, Zou Y, Zhou X, Chen H, Li Z. Hovenia dulcis: a Chinese medicine that plays an essential role in alcohol-associated liver disease . Frontiers in Pharmacology (2024) [DOI]
- Zhu J, Deng Y, Zhang X, Zhou X, Sang Y, Yang B. Quercetin-Hovenia dulcis polysaccharide complexes inhibit α-glucosidase and mitigate hyperglycemia . International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2025) [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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