Danhyang
Quick Facts
- What it is: Danhyang is the fragrant sandalwood heartwood (Santalum album), used in small amounts in Korean herbal formulas.
- Main uses: Chest and upper stomach discomfort, Nausea, Poor appetite, Calming scent
- Best for: Short-term use for a tight, achy upper belly within a traditional formula
- Active ingredients: Alpha-santalol, Beta-santalol, Santalenes, Santalic acid
- Forms: Dried wood shavings for decoction, Powder, Pills and mixed formulas, Essential oil (skin and scent only), Incense
- Time to effect: Scent within minutes; any digestive easing within a few days.
- Side effects: Mostly skin rash from the oil; swallowing the essential oil can harm the kidneys.
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What is Danhyang?
Danhyang is the fragrant heartwood of the sandalwood tree, Santalum album. Korean herbal medicine uses small amounts of the shaved or powdered wood inside mixed formulas. In the West the same wood is simply called sandalwood.
It is used most often for discomfort in the chest and the upper stomach, for nausea, and for poor appetite when the belly feels cold and tight. The scent is also burned or diffused to settle the mind. The oil pressed from the wood is a separate product, used on the skin and in perfume.
The honest verdict: the traditional standing is strong, but the human trial evidence is close to absent. We could not identify a published trial that tests Danhyang taken as a medicine. Long use in a tradition tells you that people trusted a remedy for a long time; it does not tell you that the remedy works.
Treat this page as a guide to what the tradition says and what modern testing has, and has not, looked at. If you have chest pain, ongoing vomiting, or pain when you pass urine, you need a doctor, not a herb.
How does Danhyang work?
Nobody has shown how Danhyang works in the body, and the ideas below are proposals rather than proven facts.
In Korean and Chinese medicine, Danhyang is described as a warm, aromatic wood that "moves stuck qi" in the chest and stomach. In plain words, practitioners use it when they think tension and cold in the belly are causing pain, burping and nausea. That is a traditional model, not a biological one.
Laboratory work offers a few hints. The scent compounds in sandalwood relax smooth muscle (the muscle in the gut wall) in dish and animal tests, which could ease cramping. Other lab work shows mild anti-inflammatory activity in skin cells.
Breathing the scent changes some calm-related readings, such as skin conductance, in small human studies. These are short tests of the smell, not tests of the herb as a treatment. None of this has been followed up with a proper trial in people with a health problem, so the mechanism stays unproven.
What forms does Danhyang come in?
Danhyang is sold in a few clear forms, and they are not interchangeable.
The most common is dried heartwood, shaved or chipped, simmered into a decoction (a strong boiled tea). You may also find it as a fine powder or in pills.
Korean and Chinese formula shops usually blend it with other herbs rather than sell it on its own. In these blends the dose per day is small.
Sandalwood essential oil and sandalwood incense are separate products. The oil is for the skin or for scent only. Never swallow it.
Where it comes from:
Sandalwood has been valued across Asia for well over two thousand years.
It appears in Ayurvedic medicine in India, in Chinese medicine as tan xiang, and in Korean practice as Danhyang. The 17th-century Korean text Donguibogam lists it among the aromatic, warming herbs used for chest and stomach pain.
It has also been burned as temple incense in Buddhist and Hindu worship for centuries, which is how most people first meet the smell. Heavy demand has made wild Santalum album scarce, and much of the supply is now farmed or, sadly, faked.
If this is an emergency
Some reactions to Danhyang need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Who should avoid Danhyang?
- Do not swallow sandalwood essential oil, in drops or in capsules. This is never safe, for anyone, at any dose.
- Do not use if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, because safety in pregnancy has not been shown.
- Do not use if you are breastfeeding.
- Do not use if you have kidney disease (a lasting problem with how your kidneys work).
- Do not use if you have a urinary tract infection (an infection of the bladder or the tubes that carry urine), unless your doctor agrees.
- Do not use if you take water pills or regular pain pills such as ibuprofen, unless your doctor checks first, because both can strain the kidneys.
- Do not use if you have ever had a rash or swelling from sandalwood, sandalwood oil or sandalwood incense.
- Do not give it to a child under 12 unless a doctor who knows this herb tells you to.
- Do not use the oil near the eyes, inside the nose, or on broken skin.
When should you see a doctor?
Call emergency services at once if you have chest pain, tightness or pressure, or if you feel short of breath. Chest pain can come from the heart and must never be treated at home with a herb.
Call a poison centre or go to hospital straight away if anyone swallows sandalwood essential oil, especially a child.
See a doctor soon if you notice blood in your urine, pain when you pass urine, or you are passing much less urine than usual. Also see a doctor if vomiting will not stop, if you keep losing weight or appetite for more than two weeks, or if a rash spreads after using the oil.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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