Koreans are big into the whole “let medicine be your food” thing. When you’re sick, you’re likely to get a chicken soup that has a whole chicken stuffed with ginseng sitting at your doorstep.
I got into the habit of using dried sticks this tongue-depressor-shaped herb called whang ki (they are sliced this way–the actual herb bush is shown in the picture) to stir my tea because, as all the herbalists and relatives were telling me, “It’s good for you.” I liked it because it has the added advantage of adding a sweet flavor without sugar, and it was like a biodegradeable swizzle stick.
Later, back in the states, I was surprised to see that Dr. Andrew Weil, a very mainstream nutrition and health author, is a big fan of this herb, known here as astragalus. It’s supposed to help the immune system ward off colds and flu, there are some clinical trials going on at the University of Maryland looking into possible use with AIDS patients.
Thus, I was particularly pleased to find that this versatile and tasty herb also helps fertility. Here’s an article found in Pubmed (a collection of legitimate, peer-reviewed journals, entitled, “Effects of several Chinese herbal aqueous extracts on human sperm motility in vitro.”
Pubmed articles tend to get a bit technical; The conclusion:
The results showed that per cent viability, number of progressive motile spermatozoa, curvilinear velocity, average path velocity and amplitude of lateral head displacement were significantly enhanced by A. membranaceus (P less than 0.05 or 0.01), per cent viability, average path velocity and amplitude of lateral head displacement were significantly enhanced by A. senticosi (P less than 0.05), but all the above were not affected by P. genseng and O. japonicus, P. genseng and A. carmichaeli, S. miltiorrhiae and P. umbellatus polysaccharide. It is suggested that A. membranaceus and A. senticosi can enhance the motility of human spermatozoa in vitro.
Basically, of the other herbs studied, only astragalus showed any effect on sperm motility, and from this study, it seems that astragalus may significant aid both sperm motility and quality.
Astralagus-whang ki, I noticed, is sold in pill form in the health food stores. I still like stirring my tea with it instead of popping it like a pill. If you go to a Korean or Chinese grocery, you can usually find huge bags of it for about five dollars. If you’re cooking a soup, you can also put in a piece of it and then take it out before serving (it’s technically “edible” but is like chewing on a tongue depressor). This is a mild herb, and in its dried stick form, it lasts a long time. I put mine in a mason jar.
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