Exploring the Treatment of Chronic Slow Transit Constipation in the Elderly Based on the Theory of “Sweet-Flavored Medicinals Retaining and Restoring Body Fluid”

Corresponding author: ChenMeng, 187362783@qq.com

DOI: 10.12201/bmr.202607.00045

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  Abstract: Slow transit constipation (STC) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder in the elderly population. In elderly patients, STC is rooted in deficiency of the spleen and kidney, with intestinal dryness due to fluid depletion as its manifestation. As the disease progresses, deficiency gives rise to stasis, ultimately leading to a complex pathogenesis of combined deficiency and excess, with both root deficiency and surface excess. This article systematically explores the pathogenesis evolution and therapeutic rationale for elderly STC based on Ye Tianshi’s theory of Gan Shou Jin Huan (sweet-flavored herbs to secure the middle and restore fluids). Although this therapeutic approach originates from the treatment of gastric dryness and qi injury in warm diseases, its core principle of “securing the middle to restore fluids” is highly consistent with the pathogenesis evolution of elderly STC. Accordingly, we propose a therapeutic strategy centered on “sweet” flavor, which supplements while promoting unblocking, and uses mild measures to address urgent conditions, thereby integrating “tonifying the middle, unblocking stasis in the collaterals, and harmonizing yin and yang” throughout the treatment course. Modern medicine provides objective evidence for the above therapeutic measures from aspects of mitochondrial energy metabolism, aquaporin regulation, microcirculation improvement, and the brain-gut-microbiota axis regulation. This approach offers a safer and more sustainable treatment strategy for elderly patients with declining bodily functions who cannot tolerate aggressive therapies.

  Key words: Sweet-flavored medicinals for guarding the middle and restoring fluids; Slow transit constipation; Fluid depletion and intestinal dryness; Asthenia leading to blood stasis

  Submit time: 27 July 2026

  Copyright: The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted biomedRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
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  1	2026-07-13	10.12201/bmr.202607.00045V1	Download

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