Many healthy Chinese people regularly dose themselves with traditional medicine throughout the year, and as winter approaches, it is time for reinforcing food therapy to build energy for spring.

Gaofang is a condensed tonic of herbs and animal ingredients in a paste that reinforces energy, both yang and yin, as needed. It is many people's favorite winter tonic, but it's potent and care is advised since many people dose themselves incorrectly.

Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners prescribe it according to one's constitution, and many kinds with different ingredients and properties are commercially available. A prescription can also be compounded by a TCM pharmacy some people do it at home.

Ingredients may include ginseng root, velvet deer antlers, the abdominal side of a tortoise shell, ganoderma lucidum or lingzhi, gelatin made of donkey hide and other plant and animal ingredients.

TCM practitioners urge people not to overdo it, to take the right amount with warm water, and to take it at the proper time of year at the proper time of day.

More is not better. Responsible self-medication, after consulting a practitioner, helps guarantee good energy reinforcement and minimizes or eliminates negative side effects.

Winter, according to TCM, is the season to store energy that can "sprout" in the spring.

A Chinese saying goes, "If you take good reinforcement in winter, you can beat a tiger in the spring." And gaofang is the tonic for tiger fighters.

Taking gaofang properly is as important as a correct prescription to get the benefits, says Dr Zhou Duan, chief of the Internal Medicine Department of Longhua Hospital attached to Shanghai TCM University.

The best time for gaofang is usually beginning in the "Winter Solstice" (December 21-23) and running through the "Spring Begins" (beginning of spring on the lunar calendar) (February 3-5).

Most healthy people should take gaofang twice a day on an empty stomach, 30 grams (a spoonful) each time, morning and night. It can be dissolved in warm water and swallowed, or it can be eaten straight, followed by warm water.

People with digestive problems should eat gaofang five to 10 minutes after meals.

Children from five to 10 years of age usually take one-third of an adult portion. Children aged 10 and above can take half, 15 grams. In general, it is only prescribed if children are weak.

A clay jar is the traditional and best container for gaofang. As the freshly made paste is usually hot, there can be a chemical reaction when it comes into contact with a plastic or metal container. Pottery jars can be reused.

Always use a clean, dry spoon when scooping it out for eating or dissolving with water. Otherwise, water or saliva can contaminate it, promoting growth of bacteria and mold. Throw out any gaofang with mold - it can make you sick.

Store gaofang in the refrigerator at 0 to 10 degrees Celsius.

While taking gaofang, avoid irritating and hard-to-digest foods, including seafood, greasy and spicy food. Also avoid alcohol, strong tea and coffee - these foods and beverages will interfere with absorption of gaofang.

Some tips about compatibility. If ginseng is in your gaofang, do not eat turnips during therapy. Don't drink milk, juice or other beverages with gaofang - wait half an hour.

For those with serious digestive problems and chronic diarrhea, TCM doctors will prescribe herbal medicine to adjust the digestive system before taking gaofang.

If you catch a bad cold, flu, cough, or suffer diarrhea while taking gaofang, stop until you recover. Women should generally stop taking gaofang during menstrual periods because some ingredients will increase blood flow.

"Some people purchase ready-made gaofang in pharmacies," says Dr Zhou. "It is not that they are bad gaofang, but they may not suit you."

According to Dr Zhou, everybody knows that ginseng, velvet antler and ganoderma lucidum are excellent reinforcement. But more isn't better, more than the prescribed dose doesn't make you stronger. The wrong tonic won't help and may aggravate health problems.

Even with a prescription, some people may feel uncomfortable. They should see the doctor again.

Some people lose their appetite, feel nauseous or suffer gastric problems after eating gaofang. It may contain too much nourishment that is difficult to digest, such as donkey hide gelatin and tortoise plastron (the abdominal jacket of the shell).

Food that aids the digestion may help, such as hawthorn and orange peel.

If you take gaofang and then suffer constipation, sweating, irritation, sleeplessness, nose bleeds or rising blood pressure, your gaofang is too "hot," containing too much yang energy. Herbal medicine that nourishes yin (cold energy) and dispels heat can help.

If you get diarrhea after eating gaofang, the paste is too "cold" and you need something to "warm" you up with yang energy. Ginger soup may help.

(Shanghai Daily November 4, 2008)