Completed

Hou Gu Mi Xi for Improved Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Spleen Qi Deficiency

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What is being tested

Hou Gu Mi Xi

+ placebo

Dietary SupplementOther
Who is being recruted

Digestive System Diseases

+ Gastrointestinal Diseases

From 14 to 120 Years
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Treatment Study

Placebo-Controlled
Interventional
Study Start: November 2016
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorJiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Study start date: November 15, 2016

Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

Chronic gastrointestinal disorders are one of major health problems around the globe. The annual number of patients with chronic gastrointestinal disorders was about 60 to 70 million in American. According to the American statistics in 2014, 4.6 million admissions and 230 thousand patients died due to chronic gastrointestinal disorders. The direct or indirect costs caused by chronic gastrointestinal disorders reached at 142 billion dollars. In China, the incidence of chronic gastrointestinal disorders is 7.3‰ among urban residents, which ranks No. 5 among all diseases and leads to 975 dollars of annually medical costs for per patient. Along with the development of medical science, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is playing an increasingly rule in treatment of chronic gastrointestinal disorders, especially for these mild gastrointestinal disorders which are hard to obtain efficacy in western medicine. Shen Ling Bai Zhu San, a classic Chinese medicinal formulae originally described in Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang in the Fang Song Dynasty (1102 AD), is composed of ginseng, tuckahoe, atractylodes, baked licorice, coixenolide, Chinese yam, lotus seed, shrinkage fructus amomi, platycodon grandiflorum, white hyacinth bean, and dried orange peel. It has effects of replenishing qi and invigorating spleen (spleen is a TCM conception different from western medicine), as well as penetrating wet and antidiarrheal. It is mainly used for treating the syndrome of spleen qi deficiency, including dyspepsia, chest and stomach distress, borborygmus and diarrhea, limb weakness, thin body, sallow complexion, pale tongue with white and greasy coating, and weak and slow pulse, etc. In the theory of TCM, spleen is the source for producing qi and blood and thus is the root of life. Shen Ling Bai Zhu San could invigorate spleen by supplying spleen and remove wet, and finally nourish the stomach and intestine. To date, Shen Ling Bai Zhu San is mainly used to treat mild gastrointestinal disorder like irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia in patients with a TCM syndrome of spleen qi deficiency. Pharmacologic study revealed that Shen Ling Bai Zhu San could adjust function of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria in gastrointestinal tract; specifically, it could improve the proliferation of probiotics (such as bifidobacterium) and inhibit the main resistance strains (such as enterococcus) and thus has an effect to improve gastrointestinal symptoms. Hou Gu Mi Xi is a dietary therapy form of Shen Ling Bai Zhu San, of which removes atractylodes and platycodon grandiflorum (two herbs that could not be used as food) from Shen Ling Bai Zhu San, and adds perilla leaf for adapting a dietary therapy. Hou Gu Mi Xi used the main formula of Shen Ling Bai Zhu San, so that it could theoretically maintain the treatment effects. Although the reliable health effects of Shen Ling Bai Zhu San has been proved in previous studies, Hou Gu Mi Xi is optimized in formula and its preparations changed from electuary to rice paste, so that its functional mechanism and efficacy may also be different. Therefore, the investigators plan to perform a hospital-based randomized controlled trial, enroll patients from five hospitals in Nanchang City of Jiangxi Province in China, for assessing efficacy and safety of Hou Gu Mi Xi on Gastrointestinal symptoms and indicators in Patients with Spleen Qi Deficiency and Mild Gastrointestinal Disorder.

Official TitleEfficacy and Safety of Hou Gu Mi Xi in Patients With Spleen Qi Deficiency and Non-organic Gastrointestinal Disorders: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Parallel-group, Placebo-controlled Trial
NCT03019042
Principal SponsorJiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details

200 patients to be enrolled

Total number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.

Treatment Study

These studies test new ways to treat a disease, condition, or health issue. The goal is to see if a new drug, therapy, or approach works better or has fewer side effects than existing options.



Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria

Any sex

Biological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.

From 14 to 120 Years

Range of ages for which participants are eligible to join.

Healthy volunteers not allowed

If individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.

Conditions

Pathology

Digestive System DiseasesGastrointestinal Diseases

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Patient should have mild gastrointestinal disorder without any organic pathologic changes (see exclusion criteria) by diagnosis of gastroscopy within 6 months, which mainly include chronic non-atrophic gastritis, functional gastrointestinal disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, and functional dyspepsia * Patient should be status of spleen qi deficiency, that is, meet 2 main symptoms of spleen deficiency and 2 main symptoms of qi deficiency, or have 2 main symptoms of spleen deficiency, 1 main symptoms of qi deficiency and 1 tongue symptom, or have 1 main symptom of spleen deficiency + 1 main symptom of qi deficiency + 2 secondary symptom + 1 tongue symptom as follow: 1. Main symptoms of spleen deficiency: a) poor appetite; b) abnormal stool (loose, diarrhea); c) abdominal distention after meal or afternoon 2. Main symptoms of qi deficiency: a) fatigue; b) tired mind and taciturnity 3. Secondary symptoms: a) tastelessness, hypodipsia, like hot drink, or polysialia; b) abdominal pain, as a result either patients like warm or press, or remit after meal, or occur when work; c) nausea and vomiting; d) fullness in stomach; e) abnormal bowel sounds; f) lean or puffiness; g) sallow complexion; h) powerless defecation weakness; i) edema 4. Tongue symptoms: pale or swollen or teeth-printed tongue with thin and white fur * Fourteen years old or more * Sign the informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who have organic pathologic changes, including peptic ulcer, gastrointestinal erosions, gastroesophageal reflux disease, acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage or perforation, structural changes in gastrointestinal structure, gastrointestinal vascular diseases, ileus, and benign tumor * Pregnancy or breast-feeding women * Allergic to sample or sample composition * impaired liver function, including one of following condition: a) total bilirubin \> 2 upper limit of normal (ULN); b) alanine transaminase \>2 ULN; or c) aspartate aminotransferase \>2 ULN * impaired kidney function, that is, serum creatinine \>2 ULN * obviously abnormal electrocardiogram * patients who undertaken drugs that could cause damage in stomach and intestine, or patients experience side effects of dyspepsia as undertaking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, theophylline, oral antibiotic or potassium supplements within 3 months * patients who are receiving any agents or other intervention for treating his/her gastrointestinal disorder * patients with any malignant tumor * patients who have severe mental disorders so that could not control his/her action and coordinate the treatment in this trial. * patients who are unwilling to provider personal information and enter this trial * patients who cannot understand and sign informed consent

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives

2 intervention groups are designated in this study

50% chance of being blinded to the placebo group

Treatment Groups

Group I

Experimental
Patients in this arm receive Hou Gu Mi Xi, with oral dose of 30 g/day (contain 10.1 herb materials) during entire follow up period (2 years). HGMX is composed of 10 dietary Chinese herbs (including ginseng (Renshen), tuckahoe (Fuling), coixenolide (Yiyiren), Chinese yam (Shanyao), lotus seed (Lianzi), amomum (Sharen), platycodon (Jiegen), white hyacinth bean (Baibiandou), licorice (Gancao), and orange peel (Jupi)), early rice, and oats.

Group II

Placebo
Patients in this arm receive placebo, with oral dose of 30 g/day during entire follow up period (2 years). The placebo is only consist of early rice and oats.

Study Objectives

Primary Objectives

Secondary Objectives

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.

This study has 1 location

Suspended

Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Nanchang, ChinaOpen Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Google Maps
CompletedOne Study Center