Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Ban Xia Hou Po Tang is a classic Chinese herbal formula. People use it for a lump or tight feeling in the throat that comes and goes with stress. It often comes with nausea, a full chest, or a dry cough.
In Japan the same formula is called Hangekobokuto. It is also known as Pinellia and Magnolia Bark Decoction. We count it here as one product, though it blends five herbs.
Those five herbs are processed Pinellia root (Ban Xia), Magnolia bark (Hou Po), Poria fungus (Fu Ling), fresh Ginger (Sheng Jiang) and Perilla leaf (Zi Su Ye).
Practitioners pick it when nothing is truly stuck in the throat. There is no physical block behind the feeling. Symptoms rise and fall with mood and tension.
On the evidence: this formula has centuries of recorded use. But human trial evidence is thin, and most of it comes from small Japanese studies. Long traditional use is not proof that something works, and that applies to everything on this page.
See a doctor before trying any herb if you have trouble swallowing food, are losing weight, or have pain when you swallow.
The honest answer is that nobody has shown clearly how this formula works in people.
In Chinese tradition, the formula is said to move stuck qi. Qi is the tradition's word for the body's driving force. The formula is also said to break up phlegm gathered in the chest and throat.
That is a description inside the tradition's own model. It is not a biological mechanism that anyone has measured.
Lab and animal work offers some clues. Magnolia bark compounds calm nerve activity in animals, and ginger cuts nausea signals in the gut. Some animal work suggests the mix affects the swallowing reflex and the movement of the food pipe.
None of this has been confirmed as the reason people feel better.
A simpler explanation may play a part too. The throat-lump feeling often eases when tension eases. Warm herbal drinks and regular attention to symptoms can do some of that on their own.
You will usually meet this formula in one of three forms.
- Dried granules or powder from a strong water extract, stirred into hot water, which is the most common form and the one used in Japanese Kampo practice. - A traditional decoction, where a practitioner gives you raw sliced herbs to simmer in water for 20 to 30 minutes. - Pills or capsules of the strong extract, which are easier to carry but harder to adjust.
One rule matters more than the form. The Pinellia must be the processed kind, listed as Zhi Ban Xia or prepared Pinellia. Buy from a supplier that says so on the label.
The formula first appears in the Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet). The book is credited to Zhang Zhongjing and dates to roughly 200 CE. That makes this one of the oldest formulas still in everyday use.
The original entry describes a woman. She feels as though a piece of roasted meat is stuck in her throat. Later Chinese writers named this pattern mei he qi, or plum-pit qi, and the formula has been tied to it ever since.
It crossed into Japanese Kampo medicine. There it is called Hangekobokuto, and it carries an official product number in the national drug listing. It remains a staple prescription in both countries.
See a doctor straight away if your mouth, tongue or throat burns or swells after a dose, if you have trouble breathing, or if you get a widespread rash. These can be signs of badly processed Pinellia or an allergic reaction.
Book a normal appointment if the lump-in-the-throat feeling has not improved after four weeks, if it becomes constant rather than coming and going, or if swallowing food becomes hard or painful.
Also see a doctor if you develop swelling in the ankles, unusual muscle weakness, or a rising blood pressure reading while taking any long-term herbal formula.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist you are taking this formula before starting any new prescription, especially blood thinners, sedatives or painkillers.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Ban Xia Hou Po Tang is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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