What is Ma Bo?

Ma Bo is the dried, ripe fruiting body of puffball mushrooms. It is used on its own as a single herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

People take it mainly for a sore, swollen throat with a hoarse or lost voice. It is also used for coughs that bring up phlegm streaked with blood.

Ma Bo is used on the skin as well. The brown spore powder inside a ripe puffball is dusted on small cuts, nosebleeds and grazes. The aim is to slow bleeding.

The honest verdict: Ma Bo has a long, well-recorded place in Chinese medicine. But there is almost no proof from human trials.

Traditional use tells you what people have done for hundreds of years. It does not prove that a remedy works. That point applies to everything said below.

How does Ma Bo work?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ma Bo is said to clear heat from the Lung channel. It is also said to ease the throat, stop bleeding and bring down swelling.

These are traditional ideas. They are not measures of what happens in the body.

In modern terms, the claimed actions are still unproven. Lab work suggests the spore powder can form a mesh over a cut. That mesh may slow the ooze from small wounds.

Extracts have also shown some action against bacteria (germs) in test tubes. What works in a test tube often fails in people. So treat this as an idea, not a known effect.

What forms does Ma Bo come in?

Ma Bo is sold in a few simple forms. The first is the whole or broken dried fruiting body. It is used for a decoction, which means it is simmered in water.

The spores float and can irritate the throat. So herbalists usually wrap the herb in a cloth bag before they simmer it.

The second form is loose spore powder. It is dusted on the skin or, in the old way, blown into the throat. Capsules and pills are less common.

Ma Bo also turns up in Chinese throat formulas that mix many herbs. This page covers the single herb only.

Where it comes from:

Ma Bo first appears in the Ming Yi Bie Lu, a Chinese herb text from about the 5th century CE. It has stayed in use ever since.

Li Shizhen wrote about it in the Ben Cao Gang Mu (1578). He listed it for throat swelling and for bleeding. It is still in the modern Chinese Pharmacopoeia.

Puffballs were used to dress wounds in parts of Europe too. But the formal, recorded tradition behind Ma Bo is Chinese.

What does Ma Bo help with?

• Sore, swollen throat: This is the main traditional use and the reason Ma Bo is stocked. Chinese texts pair it with heat and swelling in the throat, often with a raw, burning feeling. No published human trial tests Ma Bo alone for sore throat. Treat it as a traditional remedy with no measured benefit, and see a doctor if the throat is severe or comes with fever.
• Hoarse or lost voice: Classical texts single out loss of voice from throat heat, and Ma Bo is often given for a few days for this. There is no trial evidence. A voice that stays hoarse for more than three weeks needs medical assessment, because persistent hoarseness can have serious causes.
• Cough with blood-streaked phlegm: Tradition uses Ma Bo where a cough brings up specks of blood, combining its throat-clearing and bleeding-stopping roles. No human evidence supports this. Coughing up blood always needs a doctor first, not a herb first.
• Minor cuts, grazes and nosebleeds: The dry spore powder is dusted on small wounds. This is the oldest and most widespread use, in China and elsewhere. The evidence is limited to laboratory and animal work plus long custom. Unsterile mushroom powder can carry dirt and spores into a wound, so clean water and a plaster are the safer modern choice.
• Bleeding gums after a tooth is pulled: Chinese sources describe blowing or packing the powder onto a bleeding socket. There are no trials, and dental bleeding that does not stop within about 20 minutes of firm pressure should be handled by your dentist.

Which foods are rich in Ma Bo?

1. Young puffball mushrooms: eaten as a vegetable in some cuisines when the flesh is still pure white inside

Practical Tips:

Food-grade young puffballs are a different thing from the mature, spore-filled Ma Bo used as medicine, and identifying wild mushrooms wrongly can be fatal.

What are the side effects of Ma Bo?

• Coughing, throat tickle or wheezing if you breathe in the loose powder
• Lycoperdonosis (swollen, sore lungs from breathing in a big cloud of spores), with fever, cough and shortness of breath
• Allergic reactions in people sensitive to mushrooms or mould, such as rash, itching or swelling
• Nausea or an upset stomach from the decoction
• Sore or itchy skin where the powder is put
• Dirt or spores carried into a wound, which raises the risk of infection

Good to know:

Most reported problems come from powder in the air. They do not come from drinking the decoction. Handle it slowly and keep it away from your face.

Lycoperdonosis is rare but truly serious. Reported cases have needed hospital care. Most were in people who breathed in large amounts of spores on purpose.

Normal handling of a wrapped decoction at home carries far less risk.

Allergy is the other thing to watch for. If you react badly to mushrooms or mould, avoid Ma Bo completely.

How much Ma Bo should you take?

• Recommended daily: No dose has been established by human trials. The figures below come from Chinese pharmacopoeia practice, not from research. Internal use: about 1.5 g to 6 g of the dried herb a day, simmered in water. It is normally tied in a cloth bag first so the spores do not float free and scratch the throat. External use: a light dusting of the spore powder on a small, clean wound, as needed. Do not use large amounts, and do not use it inside a deep wound.
• Best time of day: The decoction is usually split into two doses, morning and evening. Powder for a cut is used at the time of the injury.
• With or without food: Take the decoction between meals, on a fairly empty stomach. If it upsets your stomach, take it with a little food instead.
• Time to effect: Traditionally it is used for immediate throat relief, within a day or so. Because there are no trials, no reliable time to effect can be given.
• How long to take it: Short courses only. Traditional use for a sore throat or hoarse voice runs about 3 to 7 days. If your throat or voice has not clearly improved after 5 to 7 days, stop and see a doctor. There is no evidence to support taking Ma Bo for weeks or months.