In Chinese traditional culture, there are many herbal foods that are considered to be especially advantageous for health, in Chinese bu, meaning they are supplements for what you need with an extra oomph. It turns out that many of these special foods contain anticoagulants (anti-clotting effect). It might be something analogous to the taking of aspirin in the prevention of heart attacks. Aspirin also has an anticoagulant effect, which could be considered somewhat beneficial for certain people, if taken regularly (like herbal practice).
在中国的传统文化中，许多琳琅满目的药膳，往往被认为对人们的身体健康具有特别有利的功效。在汉语里，“补”这个字别有深意：这些具备滋补功效的药膳，因其特殊的吸引力，而成为能满足人们所需的营养补品。原来，林林总总的这些特殊食品中包含了许许多多的抗凝剂成分（它们具有抗凝效果）。这种功效可能就类似于服用阿司匹林以阻遏心脏病发作的来袭。阿司匹林也有一种抗凝功效，如果人们定时服用阿司匹林（就像草药疗法那样），那么那种功效也会被认为对于某些群体，具有一定程度上的助益。

However, this practice is often extended to the situation when a person is going to surgery, when Chinese feel that it is really important to be well supplemented and “strengthened.”
Indeed, my wife was quietly given special bu herbal food by friends with all good intentions, prior to having a serious ovarian cancer surgery. At the operation, bleeding became very profuse, to the astonishment of the operating surgeon, who could not understand why this was happening. He quickly gave a transfusion of 4 units of blood to make up for the blood loss! Then the surgeon checked the blood and found that there was some kind of anticoagulant in it. And only later did we figure out the connection with the generous herbal food gift.
然而，这种做法通常会延展到某个即将接受手术的人身上，原因显而易见：中国人普遍认为好好地补一补身体或者说“强身健体”，这才是真正的重中之重。
的确如此，出于各种各样的善意，我妻子的那些朋友们私下里馈赠给了她不少特殊的滋补食品，这些事发生在为治愈我妻子病势沉重的卵巢癌而为她施行的那一次手术之前。令外科医生大吃一惊的是：手术过程中，病人的出血量相当多，具体而言，病人的整个腹腔内，鲜血不断渗出，一时间难以止住，对此突发的情形，医生感到大惑不解。他很快为病人输了四个单位的鲜血，以此来补充过多的失血！随后，这位外科医生检测了病人的血液，竟然发现其中有某种抗凝剂。我们只是在这事之后方才恍然大悟，方才知晓这桩咄咄怪事与朋友们慷慨馈赠药物滋补品之间的关联。

I was recently shocked when I visited a Chinese friend in the intensive care unit to discover that during a relatively common surgery, he had begun to bleed extensively. The surgeon was also quite astonished and could not understand why it was continuing to bleed even after the wounds were stitched.
直到最近，当我去重症监护室探访一位中国朋友的时候，我方才惊讶地发现他竟然也遭受大量失血之险，而这居然也发生在一次相对寻常不过的外科手术之中。外科医生也同样对此深感匪夷所思，并且完全不能理解甚至在伤口缝合之后，病人为什么却依然出血不止。

He had to furiously give 37 units of blood in order to save his life, since his heart, brain and kidneys were already being shocked by the severe bleeding. Remember that we only have 10 units of blood in the body, so this meant that it was nearly 4 times the amount of blood in the entire body! We then found out that indeed the family had been preparing very nutritious herbal food before surgery in order to boost up, bu his nutrition!
为了拯救病人的生命，那位外科医生不得不拼命地向病人输入了总量高达三十七个单位的鲜血，因为在这当口儿，病人的心脏、大脑以及肾脏等等器官因手术部位的严重出血，已经遭受重创。请记住我们的身体里一般来说仅有十个单位的血量，所以说，这就意味着这次的输血量几乎是人体内全部血量的几乎四倍之多！又一次，直到事后我们方才发现症结所在，原来为了补充病人的营养，为了增强他的体质，在术前，这位病人的家人确确实实为其准备了营养非常丰富的药物滋补品！

If one looks into herbal foods that are anticoagulants, you will find a very long list of herbal foods (try Google: herbal medicine and anticoagulants). Nearly all of these are routinely used by Chinese populations, without any understanding that there could be serious side effects.
如果你们要了解那些含有抗凝剂成分的药物滋补品的话，那么你们尽可以找到一份长长的列表，将各种各样的药膳囊括其中（试着浏览谷歌网去搜索一下吧：读一读中草药和抗凝剂的内容吧herbal medicine and anticoagulants）。中国人使用几乎所有的这些内容，这种做法几乎已成惯例。然而我们丝毫不懂得其中的种种严重的副作用。

There’s even a joke that Cantonese people especially consider “food as medicines” and “medicines as food.” But it’s not just Cantonese people. Most Chinese, and many Asians, have some kind of thinking like that.
坊间甚至一直流传着一则笑话：广东人尤其信奉“医食同源”或“药食同根”的观念。但是不仅仅是广东人如此行事。可以说大多数中国人，甚至许多亚洲人，都有某些类似的想法。

It’s just that most people do not understand that just like any medicines, herbal foods come with side effects, except that they are not listed as side effects when you buy herbals. And frankly, there are very few modern good scientific studies of herbal foods, so its use is all based on “tradition.”
其实，就像任何一种药物一样，那些药物滋补品往往跟它们与生俱来的种种副作用如影随形，这一点，绝大多数人是并不了解的。只不过当你购买的时候，它们种种的副作用却并没有被人们罗列出来。坦率地说，现在的人们还几乎没有什么现代意义上良好的科学方法，来针对药物滋补品进行研究，因此可以说，人们对药物滋补品的使用，还都建立在“传统”的意义之上。

In past traditions, very few people went to surgery, especially for any major operations, so this connection would not be even apparent, even if people were very observant.
在过去，几乎没几个人会去接受手术治疗，尤其是去做大手术。因此，这其中的关联自然也如同蛛丝马迹，并不显而易见，即使人们是非常富有观察力的。

The biggest anti-coagulant problem herbals include mu-er fungus, dong quai, gingko, garlic, ginseng etc, but in reality one should just simply NOT take any herbals for likely 2 weeks before and after surgery to prevent this or other unknown kinds of problem, during such a non-traditional treatment time.
会产生最严重抗凝血问题的药材包括：木耳，当归，白果，大蒜以及人参等等。但实际上，在术前或术后的大约两个星期里，人们不应当去进食任何一种含草药成分的食品，这么做，为的是避免这种或那种鲜为人知的种种问题出现。甚至在目前这样一个非传统医疗的时代，我们也要恪守这种做法。

I write this article as a medical doctor who has done many nutrition studies in humans, and as a former president of an American nutrition college, because I’m really concerned about this potentially dangerous practice. Many western trained doctors would not even think of this connection, because it is so foreign to them. Eating can truly kill you.
我是作为一名医务工作者，作为一名对人类进行了诸多营养学研究的医务工作者，并且以一所美国营养学会的前任会长的身份来撰写这篇文章的。个中原委是：我对于这种潜在的危险做法极为关切。许多训练有素的西方国家医生对于这种关联甚至会不屑一顾，因为这个问题对他们来说是完全陌生的。我们完全可以明言：大快朵颐可以毁了你。