Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Track Chai Hu Shu Gan San with reminders and record whether it helped, in the app.
Chai Hu Shu Gan San is a traditional Chinese herbal formula. It blends seven herbs in fixed amounts. It is also known as Bupleurum Powder to Dredge the Liver.
You take the whole mixture together. It is handled as one drug (a TCM formula), not as seven separate supplements.
Chinese medicine gives it for a pattern called "liver qi stagnation". That is the old name for tightness under the ribs, sighing and a short temper. It also covers bloating, belching and stomach trouble that flare with stress.
Today most practitioners reach for it in indigestion, irritable bowel symptoms, low mood, and tension before a period.
Where does the evidence stand? This formula is a long-standing staple of Chinese medicine. But good human trials are few, and most are small and low in quality, so its benefits are not proven.
Long tradition and proof of effect are two different things. This page reports them separately. That point is made here once, and not repeated in every section below.
One thing to know up front: the formula contains licorice root and bupleurum root. Both carry real safety issues. That is why this page is rated at the caution level rather than routine.
In Chinese medicine, the formula is said to move stuck liver qi. Qi is the traditional name for the body's flow of energy. Freeing it is meant to ease tightness under the ribs, bloating and irritability.
The seven herbs are taken as one blend in fixed proportions. They are not used as single parts.
Modern science has not shown how the formula works in the body. The human trials are few, small and mostly low in quality. So the way it acts stays unproven.
Some effects of single herbs are known from safety reports. Chuan xiong (Ligusticum) and white peony are thought to slow blood clotting. Licorice lowers potassium, raises blood pressure, and holds salt and water in the body.
Licorice also slows the breakdown of steroid hormones. Bupleurum has been linked to liver injury in case reports. Drowsiness has been reported with the formula too.
These are the same effects that drive the drug interactions listed further down this page.
Stop taking it and see a doctor straight away if your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow, your urine goes dark, or you feel unusually tired or sick — these can be signs of liver trouble. Get urgent help if you develop a new cough with breathlessness or fever, or if your heart feels like it is racing, fluttering or skipping.
See a doctor within a few days if your ankles swell, your blood pressure readings rise, or you get muscle weakness or cramps, as these can point to the licorice affecting your potassium and fluid balance.
Book a normal appointment if your indigestion, bowel symptoms or low mood have not improved after four weeks, or if they are getting worse. Also see a doctor before starting this formula for any rib-side or upper-abdominal pain, weight loss you did not plan, blood in your stools, or difficulty swallowing — those need a diagnosis, not a herbal remedy.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
One email with the summary. We'll also send a short weekly evidence update — unsubscribe any time.
