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Fresh Chinese Yam and Mung Bean Damp-Clearing Soup

traditionally associated with clearing heat, strengthening the spleen and relieving body dampness

In short: Fresh Chinese Yam and Mung Bean Damp-Clearing Soup is a soup that traditionally associated with clearing heat, strengthening the spleen and relieving body dampness. It is most often made for digestive wellness, cooling & summer heat, skin & natural beauty. Total time about 110 min. Key ingredients: chinese yam, mung beans, coix seeds / job's tears, lily bulb.

By · Published under our editorial policy · Research library

Prep
20 min
Cook
90 min
Total
110 min
Makes
0.9–1.2 L
Digestive WellnessCooling & Summer HeatSkin & Natural BeautyEveryday Balance
Fresh Chinese Yam and Mung Bean Damp-Clearing Soup

Why people make this soup

In early summer, the weather alternates between muggy heat and cool rainy spells — the kind of unsettled conditions that, in traditional Chinese medicine thinking, invite “dampness” into the body. Add in a habit of eating cold foods and iced drinks, and that external dampness joins forces with internal dampness from a weakened spleen. The result is a body that feels inexplicably heavy and tired, a mind that seems foggy, limbs that feel waterlogged, and in children, an increased likelihood of eczema or loose stools. This soup addresses exactly that pattern. The combination of five ingredients — each classically associated with spleen support and dampness drainage — works gently and steadily, making it a good soup to come back to whenever the weather or the body calls for it.

What studies say about the key ingredients

Traditional use is not the same as clinical proof. Here is the strongest human research we found for each ingredient, limitations included.

  • Mung beans · Randomized crossover trial, 20 participants · 2019
    Breath hydrogen and methane were higher after wheat than after rice or mung bean noodles. Bloating scores after mung bean did not differ significantly from wheat, and mung bean produced gas levels similar to rice.Limitation: Small sample of 20 patients, with single meals tested rather than habitual intake, so longer-term effects of mung bean on symptoms are unknown.PubMed 31484315 · 1 more mung beans study
  • Job's tears (coix) · Randomized controlled trial · 2024
    Myeloperoxidase activity rose significantly in the placebo group after 8 weeks but showed no significant change in the adlay tea group. Vascular endothelial function improved in the adlay group, especially in those over 40.Limitation: Participants were healthy adults and the outcomes were surrogate markers, so the results say little about clinical disease outcomes. Tea is a polyphenol-rich extract, not whole grain.PubMed 38945894 · 2 more job's tears (coix) studies

From the Nourilo Research Library. Findings come from specific doses, extracts and populations and may not apply to a home-cooked recipe.

Safety first — read before you cook

This is a traditional food, not a treatment. Please check with your doctor or pharmacist before making it a regular part of your diet if you:

  • are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are cooking for a young child;
  • take regular medicines — especially blood thinners, blood-pressure, diabetes or immune-suppressing drugs;
  • have a kidney, liver or heart condition, or a known food allergy.

Stop eating it and seek advice if you notice an allergic reaction or feel unwell. Safety notes reviewed 8 October 2026 · How we write safety notes

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