Da Zao
StarZiziphus jujuba
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Mood & calm
- Heart & circulation
- Energy & fatigue
Cautions & contraindications
- Toxic — professional use only
☯ TCM Properties
Tonifies the Spleen and Stomach and augments Qi; Nourishes the Blood and calms the Spirit; Moderates and harmonizes the harsh properties of other herbs
Traditional Chinese Uses
Da Zao (jujube fruit, Chinese date) is a sweet, warm fruit-herb used primarily to tonify Spleen and Stomach Qi and nourish Blood. It addresses Spleen-Stomach deficiency with weakness, fatigue, poor appetite, and loose stools, and nourishes Blood to relieve Blood deficiency pallor and palpitations. Its calming quality makes it an ingredient in formulas for emotional instability and restlessness. As a harmonizing herb, it is frequently added to formulas to moderate the harsh properties of other herbs and protect the Stomach.
Western Herbalism Properties
Pharmacological Effects
- Sedative: Flavone C-glycosides swertisin, spinosin and acylspinosins (seed) showed mild sedative activity in animals; swertisin most active.
Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 576.
Used In Formulas (101)
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Ziziphus jujuba is a deciduous tree or large shrub reaching 5-12 m tall, with spiny branches and smooth, greyish-brown bark. Leaves are ovate to elliptic, 2-7 cm long, glossy green, with three prominent veins from the base. Small, inconspicuous yellowish-green flowers are borne in axillary clusters. The fruit is a drupe (jujube), 1.5-5 cm long, turning from green to red-brown when ripe. The flesh is sweet, crisp, and date-like. In TCM, the dried red fruit (Da Zao) is used.
Dry hillsides, scrubland, and rocky slopes; native to temperate and subtropical Asia from China to the Caucasus. Widely cultivated throughout Asia, the Mediterranean, and other warm temperate regions.
Ziziphus jujuba is widely cultivated and naturalized across Asia, the Mediterranean, and other regions. It is not threatened in the wild. No conservation concerns.
Active Constituents
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)
Cyclic nucleotideConcentration: Measured across cultivars and drying methods; freeze-drying preserved the most, sun drying retained more than oven drying at 50-60 C, and raising oven temperature from 60 C to 75 C significantly reduced it
Jujube fruit is one of the few foods with a measurable free cAMP content, which is why the constituent is routinely cited for this drug. Its content depends heavily on how the fruit was dried, so a nominally identical batch of Da Zao can differ substantially. No human study has connected the dietary cAMP in jujube to a clinical effect.
Acidic pectic polysaccharides
PolysaccharideConcentration: The purified fraction ZJMP-2 has an average molecular weight of about 57.8 kDa, composed of glucose, galactose, arabinose, rhamnose and galacturonic acid in molar ratio 0.41:0.08:0.11:0.05:0.33
The polysaccharide fraction is the constituent class most plausibly behind the traditional qi-tonifying claim. ZJMP-2 raised TLR4, NF-kappaB and TRAF6 expression, activated RAW264.7 macrophages, promoted lymphocyte proliferation and increased cytokine and nitric oxide output, with corresponding spleen and bone marrow changes in mice. This is preclinical immunostimulation, not a demonstrated clinical benefit.
Proanthocyanidins
Polyphenol (condensed tannin)Concentration: Largely destroyed by conventional drying: 96-99% lost in sun-dried and oven-dried fruit relative to freeze-dried controls
Present in the fresh fruit and contributing to its antioxidant capacity, but almost entirely absent from the drug as normally supplied, because Da Zao is a dried fruit. Any antioxidant claim built on fresh-fruit assays does not carry across to the dried drug.
Vitamin C
VitaminConcentration: 90-93% lost during sun drying or oven drying compared with freeze-dried fruit
Fresh jujube is a notably rich source of ascorbate, and this is often cited for Da Zao. It survives drying poorly, so the traditional dried drug is not a meaningful vitamin C source.
Fruit sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose)
CarbohydrateConcentration: The dominant mass fraction of the dried fruit
Dried jujube is largely sugar, which is the practical reason the drug is palatable and the reason it matters in diabetic patients. It is also why Da Zao is used as a corrigent and harmoniser in decoctions rather than for a specific pharmacological action.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Suan Zao Ren (Ziziphi Spinosae Semen, seed of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa)
Da Zao is the dried ripe fruit of Ziziphus jujuba. Suan Zao Ren is the seed of the wild variety Z. jujuba var. spinosa and is a separate drug with a separate monograph, separate indications and separate chemistry: the sedative and hypnotic pharmacology built on jujubosides and spinosin belongs to the seed. Because both are indexed under the binomial Ziziphus jujuba, literature searches routinely return seed studies for the fruit. Reviews of the species explicitly treat its multiple plant parts as distinct resources.
Clinical note: Do not extend sedative, anxiolytic or hypnotic claims from Suan Zao Ren to Da Zao. When reading a study that names only Ziziphus jujuba, check which part was used before applying it to the fruit drug.
Antidiabetic drugs (insulin, sulfonylureas, metformin)
The effect runs in both directions. A meta-analysis of seven clinical studies in 483 participants found jujube significantly reduced BMI and triglycerides and markedly reduced fasting blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, and a 196-patient randomised trial in PCOS found significantly improved fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL with 15 g/day of hydroalcoholic extract compared with metformin, myoinositol and placebo. Against this, dried jujube is predominantly sugar, so a large decoction dose is a carbohydrate load. The meta-analysis authors rate the overall quality of evidence as limited.
Clinical note: In a patient on glucose-lowering therapy, monitor capillary glucose when starting or stopping a Da Zao-containing formula rather than assuming the herb is inert. Count the sugar load in patients on fixed insulin doses.
Gan Sui, Da Ji and Yuan Hua (harsh purgative herbs in Shi Zao Tang)
The classical role of Da Zao in Ten Jujube Decoction is to moderate the harshness of the three toxic purgatives it accompanies, and the same doctrine underlies its presence in dozens of formulas. This is a doctrinal claim, not a pharmacological finding: no study has shown that jujube alters the absorption, toxicity or clearance of the diterpenoid and daphnane toxins in Gan Sui, Da Ji or Yuan Hua. Those herbs remain toxic in the presence of jujube.
Clinical note: Do not let the presence of Da Zao in a formula justify a larger dose or a longer course of a toxic purgative. Treat the moderating function as a traditional principle and dose the toxic herbs on their own terms.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 6–15 g | daily | — | adult | 中国药典 2020年版 一部 【大枣】【用法与用量】6～15g。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, Vol. I. Break open before decocting. |
Dui Yao — Herb Pairs
The classical two-herb combinations this herb appears in, each with an action neither herb has alone.
Jujube protects the stomach qi and moderates the harshness of the water-expelling herb, allowing fluid to be expelled with less injury to the middle burner.
Classic protective pairing in Shi Zao Tang, where the powdered expellants are taken with jujube decoction. The protection is partial; Gan Sui remains toxic and contraindicated in pregnancy.
Core pair of a classical formula — Shi Zao Tang, Shang Han Lun (Zhang Zhongjing)
The middle is warmed and harmonised while the nutritive and protective levels are regulated, and harsh herbs are moderated.
Named pairing — Bensky et al., Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica (3rd ed.)
Drains the lungs of phlegm and fluids to calm wheezing, while the jujube protects the spleen and moderates the harshness of the purge.
Core pair of a classical formula — Ting Li Da Zao Xie Fei Tang, Jin Gui Yao Lue (Zhang Zhongjing)
Evidence Tier
Strong 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
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Randomized controlled trial
2
2 verified · 0 unverified
Show 2 studies
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
2
1 verified · 1 unverified
Show 2 studies
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
Impact of jujube fruit on serum lipid profile, glycemic index, and liver function: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Seven clinical studies with 483 participants, searched to September 2023 in English and Persian. Jujube significantly reduced BMI and triglycerides and markedly reduced fasting blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, with LDL and total cholesterol falling in some dose and duration subgroups; HDL, AST and ALT did not change. The authors state the overall quality of evidence is limited, and the studies are heterogeneous in dose, duration and preparation.
Effects of Ziziphus jujuba, metformin, and myoinositol on pregnancy rates and metabolic parameters in infertile women with PCOS: a randomized controlled trial
A double-blind four-arm trial in 196 infertile women with PCOS randomised to metformin 500 mg, myoinositol 2000 mg, Ziziphus jujuba hydroalcoholic extract 15 g or placebo daily for 12 weeks, with letrozole ovulation induction and pregnancy as the primary endpoint. Pregnancy rates did not differ significantly between arms (10 versus 7 versus 5 versus 4). Cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and fasting blood glucose improved significantly in the jujube arm relative to the others. One participant reported mild constipation; no serious adverse effects.
Comparison of Ziziphus jujube Mill. Syrup versus polyethylene glycol in children with functional constipation: a randomized clinical trial
A double-blind randomised trial in children aged 2-10 with functional constipation in Rasht, Iran; 62 of 90 randomised children completed three months of follow-up on jujube syrup or polyethylene glycol. Therapeutic response score, defecation frequency, encopresis episodes, pain visual analogue score and adherence were all significantly better with jujube syrup, and liver and kidney function and blood sugar were unchanged. Self-limiting side effects occurred only in the PEG arm. A single small single-centre trial of a syrup, not of the decocted crude drug.
Immunomodulatory Acidic Polysaccharide from Jujube Fruit (Zizyphus jujuba Mill.): Insight into Their Chemical Characteristics and Modes of Action
Isolation and full structural characterisation of ZJMP-2, a 57.8 kDa acidic pectic polysaccharide from jujube fruit, followed by immunological testing. It raised TLR4, NF-kappaB and TRAF6 expression, activated RAW264.7 macrophages and promoted splenic lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine and nitric oxide production, and in mice increased heart, spleen and bone marrow indices and peripheral blood and spleen cell counts. Preclinical immunostimulation, with no dose relationship established to the decocted fruit.
Preservation of Phenols, Antioxidant Activity, and Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate in Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) Fruits with Different Drying Methods
A processing study across five cultivars comparing freeze-drying, convective oven drying at 50, 60 and 75 C, and sun drying. Freeze-dried fruit retained the most of every measured component. Sun drying and oven drying destroyed 96-99% of proanthocyanidins and 90-93% of vitamin C relative to freeze-dried controls; sun drying preserved cAMP better than oven drying at 50-60 C, and raising the oven to 75 C significantly reduced phenolics, proanthocyanidins, antioxidant activity and cAMP. Directly relevant to what is actually in a batch of Da Zao.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
- Toxic — professional use only
Contraindications
It is not suitable for patients with damp-phlegm, indigestion, odontopathy, or parasitic diseases.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 330–340.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Classic of the Materia Medica)
Han dynasty, compiled c. 200 CEShang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue, Zhang Zhongjing
Han dynasty, c. 200 CEPharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China
Current editions, including 2020References
- Zheng X, Fu W, Lin X, Dai Y, Zhang J, Li S, Zhang Y, Liu H. Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa: a systematic review of phytochemistry, pharmacology, and sustainable resource utilization of its multiple plant parts . Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (2026) [DOI]
- Popstoyanova D, Gerasimova A, Gentscheva G, Nikolova S, Gavrilova A, Nikolova K. Ziziphus jujuba: Applications in the Pharmacy and Food Industry . Plants (2024) [DOI]
- Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission. Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, 2020 Edition, Volume I . China Medical Science Press, Beijing (2020)
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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