magamok
Quick Facts
- What it is: Magamok is the bark and red fruit of the Korean mountain ash tree, Sorbus commixta, used in Korean folk medicine.
- Main uses: Cough with phlegm, Airway complaints, Aching joints, Warming tonic
- Best for: Traditional use for a phlegmy cough, Traditional use for stiff, aching joints
- Active ingredients: Sorbitol, Rutin, Quercetin, Chlorogenic acid, Tannins, Lupeol
- Forms: Dried bark chips, Dried fruit, Tea bags, Fruit liquor (magamok-ju), Extract powder or capsules, Syrup
- Time to effect: Not known; no human trials have measured it.
- Side effects: Mostly mild gut upset and loose stools; rare allergy in rose-family plant allergies.
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What is magamok?
Magamok is the bark and the red fruit of the Korean mountain ash tree, Sorbus commixta. It is a single-plant Korean folk drug. People take it as a simmered water drink, a tea bag, or a fruit liquor.
It is used for coughs with thick phlegm, for chest and airway trouble, and for stiff, aching joints. Some use it as a mild warming tonic when they feel run down.
Here is the honest verdict. No human trials of magamok have been published, so its effects in people are unknown. Long use in Korea shows the plant is familiar and valued, but familiar use is not proof that it works.
How does magamok work?
No one has shown how magamok acts in the human body. Any account of how it works is a guess built on lab and animal tests.
In lab dishes, its flavonoids and other plant compounds soak up free radicals and lower some markers of swelling. Animal work hints at a calming effect on the airway. Cells in a dish and mice are a long way from you.
Part of the comfort from a hot magamok tea may simply be the warm fluid and the steam. That helps a dry, tickly throat on its own.
What forms does magamok come in?
Magamok is sold as dried bark chips, dried or sliced fruit, and tea bags. Korean shops also sell it soaked in spirits as magamok-ju, a home liquor. Extract powders, capsules and syrups turn up online.
Most home use is a simmered water drink made from bark or fruit. Strength varies a lot from product to product. Check the label for the plant part, since bark and fruit are not the same thing.
Where it comes from:
Magamok comes from the mountain forests of the Korean peninsula. Village healers used the bark and the red autumn fruit for coughs, phlegm and sore joints.
The fruit liquor is still a country custom in Korea, and dried magamok is sold in most herb markets. Related mountain ash trees are used in much the same way in Japan, China and parts of Europe.
Who should avoid magamok?
- Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, because it has never been tested for safety in pregnancy or in milk
- Do not use if you are thinking of giving it to a baby or young child, unless a doctor who knows the child tells you to
- Do not use if you plan to chew, crush or brew the seeds: never use the seeds, as they hold cyanogenic glycosides (plant compounds that can set free cyanide in the body)
- Do not use if you are eating the fruit raw; raw fruit holds parasorbic acid, which can cause stomach pain and vomiting, so dry or cook it first
- Do not use if you are allergic to rowan, mountain ash, apple, pear, plum or other rose-family plants
- Do not use if you take insulin or diabetes pills, unless your doctor agrees and you check your blood sugar more often
- Do not use if you take lithium, a water pill (diuretic) or a blood thinner such as warfarin, unless your prescriber has said it is safe for you
- Do not use if you have ongoing diarrhoea, inflammatory bowel disease (long-term swelling of the gut) or a very sensitive stomach
- Do not use if you have long-term kidney disease or liver disease, unless your doctor checks it over first
- Do not use if you are about to have surgery within two weeks, because the effect on clotting and fluids is unknown
When should you see a doctor?
Get urgent help if you have a swollen face, lips or tongue, a spreading rash, or any trouble breathing. Also get urgent help if you or a child has swallowed the seeds and feels dizzy, sick or short of breath.
See a doctor soon if a cough lasts more than three weeks, brings up blood, or comes with fever, chest pain or breathlessness. Do the same if a joint is hot, red or badly swollen, or if joint pain keeps you awake.
Stop magamok and speak to your doctor if you get diarrhoea lasting more than two days, bad stomach pain, easy bruising, yellow skin or eyes, or dark urine. Tell your pharmacist about it before starting any new prescription.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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