Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Salvia miltiorrhiza
Also known as Dan Shen
Pronounced Red Sage / Dan Shen: dahn-SHEN. Salvia miltiorrhiza: SAL-vee-uh mil-tee-or-RY-zuh.
Cool and blood-moving: a bitter that breaks up congealed blood stasis, cools heat lodged in the blood, and quiets an agitated heart-spirit.
Avoid. As a strong blood-invigorating herb that breaks blood stasis and moves the blood, Danshen is traditionally contraindicated in pregnancy, and modern references advise against its use; its antiplatelet and anticoagulant activity adds a bleeding concern for mother and fetus. Adequate human safety data are lacking: insufficient data, avoid. Source: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (Gardner and McGuffin, 2013), Salvia miltiorrhiza.
Avoid; insufficient data. No reliable data describe transfer of tanshinones or salvianolic acids into breast milk or effects on the nursing infant. Given the herb's antiplatelet activity and the absence of safety data, avoid during lactation. Source: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (2013); NCCIH (limited data).
Not established; avoid without professional supervision. Danshen is not a traditional pediatric remedy and no pediatric safety or dosing data exist for its blood-moving use. Any use in children should be practitioner-directed. Source: AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (2013); NCCIH (insufficient data).
A potent blood-invigorating herb with measurable antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and fibrinolytic activity: the central safety concern is bleeding, whether alone or added to blood-thinning drugs. Use cautiously in anyone with a bleeding tendency, peptic ulcer, or recent trauma, and discontinue one to two weeks before surgery or dental extraction. Danshen shows digoxin-like immunoreactivity and can distort serum digoxin assay results. The cardiovascular symptoms it addresses (angina, arrhythmia) are themselves red flags that require medical diagnosis, so self-treatment is unsafe. Global-market Danshen carries documented risks of adulteration, pesticide residue, and heavy-metal accumulation.
Pregnancy (blood-breaking herb); active bleeding, hemorrhagic disorders, or hemophilia; the perioperative period (stop one to two weeks before surgery); concurrent warfarin or other anticoagulant, antiplatelet, or thrombolytic therapy except under close medical supervision; known hypersensitivity.
Salvia miltiorrhiza is one of the most widely field-cultivated medicinal crops in China and is not a wild-at-risk species (it is not United Plant Savers listed, being an East Asian rather than North American plant). The real sourcing concern is quality, not scarcity: the global Danshen supply carries documented adulteration, pesticide residue, and heavy-metal accumulation in the root. Source cultivated, organically grown material from suppliers who provide botanical-identity and contaminant testing.
Not in canonical biblical texts and unknown to the ancient Mediterranean world. Native to China and Mongolia and first recorded in the Han-dynasty Shennong Ben Cao Jing (c. 200 CE), where it is ranked among the superior medicines. It has been a cornerstone of Chinese cardiovascular and gynecological medicine for roughly two thousand years.
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