Human Placenta

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Tonifies Kidney essence and supports deep deficiency states - Zi He Che is a classic blood-and-flesh tonic for profound depletion with infertility, impotence, weak constitution, or wasting.
• Augments qi and nourishes blood - older use includes chronic exhaustion, poor complexion, shortness of breath, and failure to recover after long illness or constitutional weakness.
• Tonifies Lung and Kidney to help grasp qi - traditional indications include chronic deficiency cough, wheezing, or consumptive weakness rather than acute excess heat lung disease.

Secondary Actions

• This is one of the clearest examples of a historical tonic whose modern ethical, legal, and infectious-risk profile sharply limits any casual continuation of old crude-drug practice.
• The 2015 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia removed Zi He Che, and modern discussion should foreground provenance and safety rather than romanticize it as an ordinary deficiency tonic.

Classic Formulas

• He Che Da Zao Wan - a classic placenta-centered deficiency tonic strategy used historically for severe wasting and constitutional depletion.
• Zi He Che Wan - generic historical naming pattern for placenta-based deep-tonification formulas.
• Pairing with Ren Shen, Lu Rong, or Dong Chong Xia Cao - traditional logic for severe Lung-Kidney depletion, infertility, or chronic deficiency wheezing.

Classical References

• Modern official Chinese references still describe Zi He Che as sweet, salty, and warm, entering the Lung, Liver, and Kidney to warm the Kidney, supplement essence, augment qi, and nourish blood.
• These same sources now also note the legal and ethical limits around placenta trade and the major safety concerns that led to its removal from the 2015 Chinese Pharmacopoeia.
• Historically powerful reputation does not erase modern sourcing, consent, and pathogen-control concerns.