As a medicine and health care product, pearls have a history of more than 2,000 years in China. There are 19 kinds of ancient medical books in the past dynasties, from the medical books of the Three Kingdoms in the Han Dynasty to the medical books of Leigong in the Qing Dynasty, etc., all of which clearly record the curative effect on pearls. In foreign countries, there are also records of pearl powder treating diseases. For example, Japan's "Housheng New Chapter" said: "Pearls can nourish the heart and strengthen the qi, so they can cure fainting, restore vitality, stop bleeding, and relieve the cold poison in the stomach ..."
According to modern pharmacological research, the components of pearls can be divided into two categories: inorganic and organic. Inorganic substances include calcium carbonate, iron, zinc, lead, magnesium, copper, manganese, chromium, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel and other trace elements; Organic substances include keratin, taurine, porphyrin compounds, etc. They make pearls have important health care and medicinal value, and the effects of modern medicine can be summarized as follows:
(1) Bacteriostasis: A large amount of calcium carbonate in pearls has a strong inhibitory effect on some bacteria (especially Staphylococcus aureus).
(2) Hemostasis: Calcium ions can make fibrinogen in the blood form protein fibers, thus coagulating the blood at the wound.
(3) Promoting metabolism and enhancing immunity: Calcium can regulate the activities of various enzymes in human body, and also has the function of regulating the pH of blood, which has a certain effect on improving human health and delaying aging. Pearl is rich in zinc, which is one of the 14 trace elements necessary for human body. It can stimulate appetite, accelerate growth and development, and enhance the regeneration ability of traumatic tissue and the immunity of the body. Other trace elements (iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, etc. ) widely participate in the redox reaction of human cells and promote human metabolism.
Pearl also contains essential organic components, mainly keratin, and its hydrolysate includes amino acids such as glycine. These amino acids are necessary to maintain human nitrogen balance. Because they cannot be synthesized in the human body, they must be obtained from food. Taking pearl powder regularly can increase the metabolic capacity of human body, promote the regeneration of epidermal cells, and make skin soft, fair, delicate and smooth.
In addition, pearls also contain five non-protein amino acids such as taurine. Taurine has sedative, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic effects, and can enhance the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and hormones, promote bile secretion, protect liver and detoxify. Porphyrin compounds contained in pearls have a certain inhibitory effect on tumors.
In a word, mother-of-pearl and mussel powder have achieved good medicinal effects since their clinical application. Now, pearls and pearl powder have become common health care products for ordinary families.
Some people worry that calcium carbonate in pearl powder will cause kidney calculi. In fact, this kind of worry is unnecessary. According to relevant reports, well water and spring water that people drink in daily life also contain inorganic salts such as calcium and magnesium, and the content per liter can reach about 0.4 grams. If you drink 2.5 liters of well water or spring water, it is equivalent to ingesting about 1 g of calcium and magnesium salts, but there is no endemic area in kidney calculi. In recent years, in vitro cytotoxicity experiments and other experiments show that pearl extract has no obvious toxic effect on animals. The biological safety study of pearls also shows that taking proper amount of mother-of-pearl powder has no toxic effect on human body. Of course, as a medicinal pearl and its products, it must be used according to the doctor's advice.