Keihito
Quick Facts
- What it is: A Japanese Kampo herb mix used for long-running loose stools and weak digestion, mainly in children.
- Main uses: Long-running or repeated diarrhoea, Weak digestion and a heavy feeling after meals, Poor appetite in children
- Best for: A child with loose stools for weeks, no fever and a poor appetite
- Active ingredients: Ginsenosides (from ginseng root), Glycyrrhizin (the sweet compound in licorice), Starches and sugars from Chinese yam and lotus seed, Bitter oils from dried citrus peel, Plant acids from hawthorn fruit
- Forms: Extract granules in sachets, Powder, Tablets or capsules, Traditional decoction (herbs simmered in water)
- Time to effect: Practice suggests one to two weeks; this has not been measured in a trial.
- Side effects: Usually mild stomach upset or rash; licorice can raise blood pressure and lower potassium.
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What is Keihito?
Keihito is a Japanese Kampo herb mix. It is used for loose, watery stools that keep coming back, and for a weak stomach that does not handle food well. Kampo doctors use it most often in children.
It counts as one single Kampo formula, even though it holds several herbs. Its name is often put into English as 'Spleen-Opening Decoction'. In Kampo, the word spleen means the body's power to break down food, not just the organ of that name.
The evidence here is thin. Keihito has a long record of use in Kampo, but we could not find human trials that test it. Long use is not proof that something works, and that gap applies to every claim on this page.
How does Keihito work?
No one has shown how Keihito works in the body. What follows is the idea behind its use, not a proven action.
In Kampo thinking, long-term loose stools come from a weak digestion that cannot dry and hold food waste. The herbs in Keihito are grouped to warm and support that process, soak up extra fluid, and settle a churning gut.
Some single herbs in the mix have been studied on their own in labs and in animals. That work does not tell you what the whole mix does in a child with diarrhoea.
What forms does Keihito come in?
You will mostly meet Keihito as dried extract granules in single-dose sachets. This is the standard hospital and pharmacy form in Japan.
Other forms:
Fine powder, tablets or capsules made from the same extract. A traditional decoction, where the raw herbs are simmered in water and the liquid is drunk.
The decoction is rare outside a Kampo practice. Granules are easier to dose for children and taste sweeter.
Where it comes from:
Keihito comes from a Chinese medical book, Wanbing Huichun, written by Gong Tingxian and printed in 1587.
Japanese doctors took it up and it became a settled part of Kampo practice for children with long-running loose stools and poor appetite. It is still listed as a covered Kampo formula in Japan today.
That gives it a solid place in one tradition, over roughly four centuries.
Who should avoid Keihito?
- Do not use if you have low potassium (too little of a salt the heart and muscles need)
- Do not use if you have high blood pressure that is not under control
- Do not use if you have aldosteronism (a hormone problem that raises blood pressure and lowers potassium)
- Do not use if you have myopathy (muscle weakness and damage) caused by licorice or by steroid medicines
- Never take it at the same time as glycyrrhizin injections or other licorice-based medicines
- Never take it alongside another licorice-containing Kampo formula unless a Kampo doctor has checked the total licorice dose
- Do not use if you have heart failure, an irregular heartbeat or serious kidney disease, unless your doctor has cleared it first
- Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, unless a doctor who knows Kampo says it is safe for you
- Do not use if you have ever had a rash or swelling after taking ginseng, licorice or any other herb in the mix
- Do not use it as a home remedy for a child whose stools carry blood, or who has a high fever, or who looks dried out — take the child to a doctor instead
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor if diarrhoea lasts more than a few days, or if it comes back again and again.
Get medical help the same day if you or your child shows signs of water loss: dry mouth, no tears, little or no urine, sunken eyes, or a baby who is floppy and hard to wake.
Also get checked for blood or black colour in the stool, fever, weight loss, or a child who is not growing.
Stop the herb and seek care straight away for yellow skin or eyes, dark urine and deep tiredness; for swelling, headache, muscle cramps or sudden weakness; or for a dry cough with fever and breathlessness.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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