Jing Si Herbal Tea in the Treatment of Dyspeptic Symptoms

Dyspepsia refers to chronic or recurrent upper gastrointestinal symptoms. According to the Rome IV criteria, functional dyspepsia (FD) symptoms included meal-related fullness, early satiation, epigastric pain or burning which are unexplained after routine investigation. FD causes substantial psychophysical burden because of its unknown etiology and high prevalence. Although FD is currently associated with local inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and microbiota alteration, current available treatments for FD are of limited effectiveness. In view of this, many studies have applied Chinese herbal medicine in FD and achieved some therapeutic benefit. The Jing Si Herbal Tea composed of eight native Taiwanese herbs (wormwood, hickory grass, Ophiopogon japonicus, houttuynia cordata, platycodon, licorice, perilla leaves, chrysanthemum) has obtained a special export license from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The Jing Si Herbal Tea also has been registered in clinical trials as a complementary treatment for COVID-19. The preliminary data demonstrated that the Jing Si Herbal Tea may improve gastrointestinal symptoms and anxiety in patients with COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of the Jing Si Herbal Tea on psychophysical burden and metabolites of microbiota in patients with FD through a double-blind randomized manner.