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Traditional Chinese medicine

Amomum (sha ren)Wurfbainia villosa (syn. Amomum villosum)

A ginger-family seed used in Chinese stomach formulas; no trial of it alone, and a 216-adult placebo-controlled trial of an eight-herb formula that contains it.

Botanical name
Wurfbainia villosa (syn. Amomum villosum)
Part used
ripe fruit (the seed mass inside the capsule)
Also called
pinyin Sha ren (砂仁); Villous amomum, Fructus Amomi, Amomi fructus
Used in
Traditional Chinese medicine
Taken for
Bloating, Nausea, Appetite, Indigestion
Sold as
whole fruit, seed powder, granules, pills in formulas, decoction

Amomum (sha ren), the plant and the part used

Amomum, called sha ren in Chinese, is the ripe fruit of Wurfbainia villosa, a plant of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) better known in the older literature as Amomum villosum Lour. A review of the genus describes Amomum as valued as a spice and flavoring as well as a traditional medicine, and lists camphor, bornyl acetate, alpha- and beta-pinene and methyl chavicol among the constituents of the essential oil of the related species it covers.

The part used is the seed mass from the dried capsule, an aromatic mass of small seeds that is added to decoctions, pills and granules. It is one of the ten ingredients of Shen Ling Bai Zhu San and one of the eight of Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang, where the “Sha” of the name is this fruit. Take care with the label: Amomum tsao-ko is a different species, and the review of the genus covers both.

Traditional uses, in their own terms

Traditional Chinese medicine (about TCM)

Sha ren is classed in the Chinese materia medica as pungent and warm, entering the spleen, stomach and kidney channels. The tradition describes it as aromatic and warming to the middle, transforming what the texts call dampness, moving stuck qi, and stopping the nausea, fullness, poor appetite and loose stools the texts attribute to a cold, damp, weak spleen and stomach. It is added late in the cooking of a decoction so that its fragrance is not lost, according to the texts, and in the tradition it is also listed for a restless fetus. These are the tradition’s own classifications and uses, taken from the standard English materia medica, and we found no trial of the pregnancy use. In Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang it works with costus root to move qi, and in Shen Ling Bai Zhu San it supports the formula’s aim of firming the stool.

Compounds, and what the laboratory says about them

The volatile oil of the fruit is the most studied fraction, and a review of Amomum villosum and Amomum tsao-ko lists camphor, bornyl acetate, methyl chavicol, trans-p-(1-butenyl)anisole, alpha-pinene and beta-pinene among its notable components. The review ties these and other extracts to antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-obesity, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity in laboratory, cell and animal work, and says nothing of gut trials in people. These are preclinical findings, from work that includes both species.

Trials in people, with the numbers

We found no randomized trial of amomum alone for a gut symptom. The human evidence is of the formulas in which it sits, so it cannot be attributed to the fruit.

In Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi Tang (ginseng, atractylodes, poria, costus root, amomum, pinellia, tangerine peel and licorice), a multicenter, double-blind trial in 216 adults with functional dyspepsia by Rome III criteria and spleen deficiency with qi stagnation gave granules or placebo for 4 weeks. Compared with placebo, the formula group had better postprandial discomfort, clinical global impression, anxiety and depression scores, and faster gastric emptying of the proximal and distal stomach (P below 0.05 or 0.01). A meta-analysis of 23 trials with 2,101 participants found a higher effectiveness rate (risk ratio 1.27, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.33) with no significant difference in adverse events, though the authors rated the studies low quality and the trials were all from China.

Shen Ling Bai Zhu San, the ten-herb formula that also contains amomum, has been pooled in a meta-analysis of 14 studies with 1,335 participants with chronic gastritis: it beat conventional therapy on the effective rate (risk ratio 1.29, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.37), but the evidence quality was not high and the safety data were unclear.

What has not been tested: amomum without the other herbs, the essential oil in people, and the pregnancy use the texts describe.

StudyDoseWhat it found
Multicenter double-blind placebo-controlled trial, 216 adults with functional dyspepsia (Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi granules) PMID 28852318Granules in 300 mL water, 130 mL three times a day, 4 weeksBetter postprandial discomfort, global impression, anxiety and depression scores and faster gastric emptying than placebo (P below 0.05 or 0.01)
Meta-analysis of 23 trials, 2,101 participants, Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi decoction in functional dyspepsia PMID 38933675Formula decoction; doses not reported in the paperEffectiveness rate RR 1.27 (95% CI 1.21 to 1.33); adverse events not significantly different; low-quality studies
Meta-analysis of 14 studies, 1,335 participants with chronic gastritis (Shen Ling Bai Zhu San) PMID 36156925Formula; doses not standardizedEffective rate better than conventional therapy, RR 1.29 (95% CI 1.21 to 1.37); evidence quality not high
Review of Amomum villosum and Amomum tsao-ko fruit essential oil and extracts PMID 38463888Not applicableLists antioxidant, antidiabetic, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory findings in laboratory and animal work; no gut trial

The doses on record

No trial of amomum alone gives a dose. In the 216-adult formula trial, Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi granules were dissolved in 300 mL of water and 130 mL was taken three times a day for 4 weeks. The meta-analysis of that formula does not give the gram doses of each herb, and the review of Shen Ling Bai Zhu San notes that its doses are not standardized. In the tradition the seeds are crushed and added near the end of a decoction, or ground into pills. We found no single-herb gram dose that we could tie to a primary source.

None of this is a dose recommendation. It is what the literature used, set down so a label can be compared with it; a pharmacist or clinician decides what applies to you.

The safety record

In the 216-adult trial and the 23-trial meta-analysis the formula was not associated with more adverse events than control, and the meta-analysis did not report severe events, though the studies were of low quality. We found no safety data on amomum alone, and no controlled data on its use in pregnancy or breastfeeding, although the tradition lists it for a restless fetus. Because Amomum tsao-ko and other plants share the Amomum name, a label that says only amomum may not identify the fruit used in Chinese formulas. Amomum also appears in patent medicines, and a published review of Chinese proprietary medicines in Singapore tabulated reports of excess toxic heavy metals and undeclared drugs in some such products between 1990 and 1997; that concerns the products it lists and not every formula.

Medicines it can interact with

We found no documented drug interaction for amomum in the sources read. The formula trials combine it with ginseng, licorice and other herbs that carry their own interaction records, so an interaction seen with a formula cannot be assigned to amomum. The review of the genus describes antidiabetic effects in laboratory work, which is the only pharmacological signal in the sources that would be relevant to a person taking glucose-lowering medicine; no human report of it was found.

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What people want to know

What is sha ren?

Sha ren is the Chinese name for amomum, the aromatic seed mass from the ripe fruit of Wurfbainia villosa, formerly Amomum villosum. It is a ginger-family spice and a pharmacopoeia drug.

Is there a trial of amomum for dyspepsia?

Not of amomum alone. A 216-adult placebo-controlled trial tested the eight-herb formula Xiang Sha Liu Jun Zi and found better postprandial discomfort scores and faster gastric emptying than placebo over 4 weeks.

What does TCM say about it?

TCM classes it as pungent and warm, entering the spleen, stomach and kidney channels, and uses it for what the texts call cold-damp weakness of the stomach with nausea, fullness and loose stools. That is the tradition’s framework.

Is Amomum tsao-ko the same thing?

No. Amomum tsao-ko is a different species. The review of the genus that we cite covers both it and Amomum villosum, so check which one a source means.

Sources