Study on Relationship between Sugar Content and Cold–Hot Nature of 20 Kinds of Herbs by Fisher Analysis

Twenty kinds of herbs were studied for the relationship between sugar content and Cold–Hot nature. The Fehling method was used for determining the total sugar content, the sulfuric acid-anthraquinone colorimetric method for measuring the total polysaccharides content, and the alkaline copper sulfate method for testing the monosaccharide content. After that, the obtained data were analyzed by the Fisher method. The 10 kinds of Hot herbs showed significantly higher total sugar content and monosaccharide content than the 10 kinds of Cold herbs, with P<0.05; however, they showed no significant differences in the total polysaccharides content, with P>0.05. A discriminant function was established by the Fisher method, with the group back substitution result of the Fisher analysis reaching 85%. The results demonstrate that there exists a certain relationship between the sugar content and the Cold–Hot nature of the 20 kinds of herbs. The Fisher analysis can be used to distinguish the Cold–Hot nature, and sugar is one of the material bases of Cold–Hot nature.