Near Woollahra
Josephine holds a Bachelor of Health Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine (UTS). She is a member of FCMA and ACCMA, and is registered with AHPRA as a Acupuncturist & Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner.
When prescribed Chinese herbal medicine, patients often face a choice between traditional raw herbs (decocted at home) and modern concentrated granule extracts (dissolved in hot water). Each format has advantages, and understanding the differences helps patients make informed decisions in consultation with their herbalist. Both forms are therapeutically effective and widely used in professional clinical practice.
Raw herbs (Yin Pian) are the traditional form — dried, sliced, or processed plant materials that are simmered in water at home for 30-60 minutes to produce a decoction. Advantages include full-spectrum extraction (water-soluble and partially oil-soluble compounds), the ability to precisely customise each herb's dosage, the option to cook certain herbs differently (pre-boiling hard minerals, adding aromatic herbs at the end), and generally lower cost per treatment. The main disadvantages are preparation time (30-60 minutes of cooking daily), the strong taste and smell, and the inconvenience of carrying bulky herb packages.
Concentrated granules (Ke Li) are produced by large-scale decoction, concentration, and spray-drying onto a starch carrier. They dissolve in hot water and are taken as a tea. Advantages include convenience (preparation in seconds), portability, consistent quality from standardised manufacturing, and more palatable taste (though still bitter). Disadvantages include higher cost, the fact that each herb is extracted individually rather than co-decocted (potentially missing synergistic interactions that occur when herbs are boiled together), and less flexibility for fine-tuning doses. Most clinical research from Taiwan uses granule formulations, supporting their efficacy.
Granules are therapeutically effective and backed by clinical research, particularly from Taiwan where they are the standard form. They may lack some synergistic effects of co-decoction (where herbs interact during cooking), but their convenience often leads to better patient compliance — and a formula taken consistently is more effective than one left uncooked.
Soak the herbs in cold water for 20-30 minutes, then bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes (or as directed — some formulas require longer). Strain the liquid and drink warm. Most prescriptions are cooked twice — the second decoction extracted from the same herbs — and both batches are combined and divided into two daily doses.
Josephine Zhuo (TCM) is an AHPRA registered health practitioner — acupuncturist and herbalist.
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