What foods help remove dampness and heat from the body?
Aug 27, 2025
Source: Cainiu Health
Dr. Sun Lianqing
Introduction
Foods may help assist in removing dampness and heat from the body. Commonly selected foods include coix seed (Job's tears), winter melon, mung beans, red adzuki beans, and bitter melon. Coix seed is frequently used to eliminate damp-heat, as it strengthens the spleen, promotes diuresis, clears heat, and resolves pus. It can be cooked with rice to make a porridge, or prepared with lotus seeds and lily bulbs to make a decoction, aiding in the removal of dampness and relieving symptoms such as bodily heaviness and sticky bowel movements.
Food may help remove damp-heat from the body. Commonly used ingredients include coix seed, winter melon, mung beans, red adzuki beans, and bitter melon. Detailed explanations are as follows:
1. Coix Seed: It can strengthen the spleen to resolve dampness, clear heat, and relieve abscesses. It is commonly used for removing damp-heat. Coix seed can be cooked with rice to make porridge or boiled with lotus seeds and lily bulbs to help expel dampness and alleviate symptoms such as body heaviness and sticky stools.
2. Winter Melon: Sweet and bland in flavor with a cool nature, it clears heat, promotes diuresis, reduces swelling, and detoxifies. Its high water content helps increase urine output to eliminate damp-heat. It can be stir-fried or stewed with pork ribs and poria (Poria cocos), offering a mild taste that is easy to digest, making it suitable for daily consumption by individuals with a damp-heat constitution.
3. Mung Beans: They clear heat and detoxify, promote urination, and relieve summerheat. Mung beans help alleviate symptoms such as dry mouth and throat and dark, scanty urine caused by damp-heat. They can be cooked into soup or porridge and consumed during summer to relieve heat. Due to their cool nature, individuals with weak spleen and stomach should avoid excessive consumption.
4. Red Adzuki Beans: They promote diuresis, reduce swelling, detoxify, and discharge pus. Compared to regular red beans, red adzuki beans are more effective for removing damp-heat, helping expel dampness and heat. They are often cooked with coix seed to make tea or porridge, or boiled alone as soup to improve leg edema and sticky stools.
5. Bitter Melon: Bitter in flavor with a cold nature, it clears heat, purges fire, detoxifies, and removes dampness. It is suitable for symptoms caused by damp-heat such as bitter taste in the mouth, oral ulcers, and dry, hard stools. Bitter melon can be stir-fried or cooked with eggs to reduce bitterness, or dried for泡 water (steeping in water).
When consuming foods that remove damp-heat, adjustments should be made according to individual constitution, and excessive intake of cold-natured foods should be avoided. If abdominal pain or diarrhea occurs after consumption, the dosage should be reduced or discontinued.
