Grosvenor Momordica Fruit

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Clears Lung heat and moistens dryness - Luo Han Guo is used for dry cough, hoarseness, smoker's throat, whooping-style cough, and sore throat when heat and dryness injure the upper burner.
• Transforms phlegm and relieves cough - it is especially appropriate when sweet cooling moisture is needed for sticky phlegm-fire or heat-dryness patterns.
• Moistens the intestines and unblocks the bowels - traditional use extends to dry constipation or hard stool caused by fluid depletion.

Secondary Actions

• Luo Han Guo is both a medicinal fruit and a food-medicine sweetener, which is why it often appears as a tea, soup ingredient, or sweetening herb rather than only as a decoction drug.
• Some modern sources list the Spleen while others list the Large Intestine as the secondary channel; this entry follows the more functionally explicit Lung-Large Intestine pairing because moistening the bowels is one of the signature actions.

Classic Formulas

• Luo Han Guo tea - the simplest and most common preparation for dry throat, hoarseness, and heat-dryness cough.
• Luo Han Guo with Pang Da Hai and Mai Men Dong - a moistening pairing for strained voice, parched throat, and stubborn dry heat in the upper burner.
• Luo Han Guo with Chuan Bei Mu - a classic cough-support combination when phlegm and dryness coexist.

Classical References

• TCM Wiki describes Luo Han Guo as sweet and cool, clearing Lung heat and moistening the intestines for cough due to phlegm-fire and constipation due to dryness.
• Me & Qi emphasizes its Lung and Large Intestine channel actions, food-medicine dual status, and suitability for dry hot respiratory patterns rather than cold cough.
• Chinese government classification as a medicine-food dual-use substance helps explain why Luo Han Guo remains common in both folk tea use and formal materia medica.