Zoological substancesTonifyingCaprae Ovis Fetus

Yang Tai (Sheep Fetus (or Placenta))

A practical guide to Yang Tai: what it is, how Traditional Chinese Medicine uses it, the classical formulas it appears in, and who should be careful with it.

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Last reviewed Oct 29, 2026

Quick Facts

Latin Name	Caprae Ovis Fetus
Chinese Name & Pinyin	羊胎 · Yang Tai
Medicinal Part	Zoological substances
The item	Yang Tai is the dried placenta of the goat or sheep. Zi He Che (human placenta) and other essence-tonifying materials are not this drug.
Nature and channels	Warm, sweet. Enters the Kidney and Liver. Warm sweet tonifies the kidney and essence, nourishes the blood, and boosts the qi.
Pharmacopoeia line	Tonifies the kidney and essence; nourishes the blood and boosts the qi. Used for kidney-essence deficiency and qi-blood deficiency.
Pattern cues	Weak sore lower back. Dizziness and ringing ears. Fatigue and poor spirit. Sallow face. Shortness of breath. Weakness after childbirth. Scanty pale periods.
In this article	Yang Tai versus Zi He Che. Gentle warm-supplementing versus strong supplementing. Why damp-heat and fever bodies should skip it. Home soup and tea.

What Is Yang Tai?

Yang Tai (羊胎; Yáng Tāi; Latin: Placenta Ovinae; English: dried goat or sheep placenta) is the dried placenta of the goat or sheep, gathered fresh at the time of lambing, washed, and dried — the firm gray-yellow blocks with a faint raw smell that practitioners add to formulas when long exhaustion has emptied the essence and the qi. It is warm, sweet, enters the Kidney and Liver channels, and its core actions are to tonify the kidney and essence, and to nourish the blood and boost the qi. The usual amount is 3–10 g in a decoction or powder, with slightly less in food remedies. It is a warming-supplementing medicinal piece, not an everyday meat — the raw placenta carries a stronger smell and is not used directly at home.

It is not Zi He Che. Human placenta is also warm and supplements the essence — it is salty and warm, and its supplementing force is markedly stronger, fit for severe essence loss and acute collapse; this goat-sheep placenta is warm, sweet, and gentle — it supplements without drying, fit for slow chronic deficiency. It is not a general tonic or "strength herb"; it acts within clear patterns. In damp-heat below — scanty dark urine, a thick greasy tongue coat — or during an external fever, using it on your own is a poor match. Unexplained bleeding in pregnancy, or a markedly unwell child, needs a clinic first. Do not use it yourself for a long time.

It is used most often for three patterns:

Kidney-essence deficiency — weak sore lower back, dizziness and ringing ears, fatigue, poor spirit
Qi-blood deficiency — a sallow face, shortness of breath, low voice, weakness after childbirth, scanty pale periods
Damp-heat below, external fever, pregnancy, or nursing — seek care / skip it

Warm, sweet, and gently supplementing, it is not a daily "essence tonic" to keep increasing. Supplementing when there is no deficiency, or in a damp-heat body, feeds the evil instead of helping.

When long labor, chronic illness, or age has emptied the kidney essence and the qi-blood — weak sore lower back, fatigue and poor spirit, a sallow face — the body needs a gentle warm-supplement rather than a harsh build-up. Yang Tai is warm, sweet, and moist. It tonifies the kidney essence, nourishes the blood, and boosts the qi, which is why it appears in Yang Tai Wan (Sheep Placenta Pill)–type formulas. It builds more than it drains. In damp-heat below, or without deficiency, more makes it worse.

Yang Tai is not a catch-all tonic or "strength herb." In damp-heat below, in external fever, in pregnancy, or without deficiency, using it alone is a poor match. Whether it belongs in a formula, and at what dose, should be decided by a licensed Chinese medicine practitioner after pattern diagnosis.

Yang Tai: Materia Medica Profile

Identification & Quality Standard

Caprae Ovis Fetus

Botanical Origin

The dried fetus (or placenta) of Capra hircus L. or Ovis aries L. (Bovidae).

Production Regions

Primarily produced in pastoral areas of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Tibet.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material is dry, thick, yellowish, without foreign matter.

Macroscopic Features

Irregular lumps or pieces. Externally yellowish-brown or dark brown, often with residual wool and membrane. Flesh is yellowish, oily. Faint fishy odor, taste salty.

Main Regions and Quality Identification

Classic texts and trade experience favor placentas from several pastoral provinces, but quality still depends on the variety, harvest time, processing, and storage — the goat placenta tends to be drier, the sheep placenta a little higher in fat. The raw piece shows irregular blocks with residual fetal membrane, gray-yellow or brown, hard and crisp; the processed piece is yellow-brown or dark brown and firmer, with a lighter smell and a slight roasted note. The common look-alike is the placenta of other livestock — such as pig placenta — which is flatter and thinner with a clearly different membrane structure.

Traditional Properties & Historical Lineage

Nature, Flavour & Channel Tropism

Sweet, Salty; WarmKidneyLiverLung

1. Records in Classic Materia Medica

Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing: does not list the sheep placenta directly, but the animal-placenta class is listed in the upper class — "supplements the short of qi and makes people stout and healthy."
Ming Yi Bie Lu: records Yang Tai — "promotes breast milk and is used for consumptive weakness and emaciation."
Ben Cao Gang Mu: places it in the animal section — "warms the kidney, boosts the yang, and supplements deficiency and loss."
De Pei Ben Cao: notes it "supplements the essence and qi and clears deficient heat."
Zhong Hua Ben Cao: consolidates — "tonifies the kidney and essence; nourishes the blood and boosts the qi."

2. How Views of Its Nature Changed

Tang-dynasty doctors leaned on its use for postpartum weakness and scanty milk, stressing its unblocking note; Song doctors focused on the supplementing side, using it for long-standing consumptive fatigue; Ming doctors began to tell the sheep placenta apart from other animal placentas, holding that its warmth is moderate and not overly drying — fit for most deficiency cases; Qing doctors warned that damp-heat bodies should not use it alone — it needs draining pairings, or the supplement feeds the evil. The range keeps its scope clear and avoids misuse.

Core Efficacies & Traditional Applications

Traditional Functions

Warms kidney and supplements yang, boosts qi and nourishes blood.

1. Main Use 1: Tonifying the Kidney and Essence

(1) Traditional action: tonifying the kidney essence and restoring the baseline state of the essence and qi. (2) Typical patterns: weak sore lower back, dizziness and ringing ears, fatigue and poor spirit, premature emission. (3) Usual pairings: Gou Qi Zi and Tu Si Zi to strengthen the kidney supplement. (4) Not for self-use: damp-heat below or during an external fever — the supplement may feed the evil.

2. Main Use 2: Nourishing the Blood and Boosting the Qi

(1) Traditional action: supplementing the blood and qi and regulating the state of qi-blood deficiency. (2) Typical patterns: a sallow face, shortness of breath, low voice, weakness after childbirth, scanty pale periods. (3) Usual pairings: Huang Qi for the qi side, Dang Gui for the blood side. (4) Not for self-use: heavy phlegm-damp with a bloated belly and loose stools — the supplement may block the qi flow.

3. A Classic Pairing

Yang Tai pairs classically with Huang Qi: the sheep placenta tonifies the kidney essence with a gentle warm-moist note; the astragalus boosts the qi and lifts the yang, strengthening the spleen — the pair both replenishes the essence and fuels the generation of blood and qi, fitting qi-blood-kidney deficiency such as long-term fatigue with poor spirit and a sallow face. The pairing needs a practitioner's pattern diagnosis — never self-pair.

Modern Research

Modern research offers useful context, but Traditional Chinese Medicine prescribes on whole-pattern diagnosis rather than isolated compounds.

1. Main Chemical Constituents

Detected in the sheep placenta are proteins, peptides, amino acids, polysaccharides, phospholipids, and small amounts of minerals such as calcium, iron, and zinc. In vitro, some peptide constituents show antioxidant-type activity; in animals, mice given the placental extract show better fatigue tolerance. No sufficient human clinical study yet proves the specific effects in the human body.

2. Current Research Directions

Current work centers on two directions: the energy metabolism and immune-modulating potential — experiments suggest some constituents may affect cellular energy production, but mostly in animals; and the link to chronic-deficiency markers. Most of this is at the basic stage and still needs human verification.

3. Limitations of Current Research

Lab results are not clinical efficacy — animal results may change in humans with individual differences and different doses.
Extracts are not decoction pieces — the extract concentrations and doses in modern research differ greatly from the daily piece dose.
Doses and preparations vary between studies — some use high-concentration extracts; daily use is a low-concentration dried piece — the results cannot be mapped directly.
One component does not define the whole herb — the placenta acts as a team of constituents; one component's activity cannot represent the whole.

Comparing Similar Herbs

1. What They Share

Both tonify the essence and qi.
Both are used for consumptive weakness and qi-blood deficiency.
Both appear in deficiency-care formulas or food remedies and both need constitution and dose care.

2. Key Differences

Nature and flavor: Yang Tai is warm and sweet, entering the Kidney and Liver — warm, moist, supplementing without drying; Zi He Che is warm with a salty-sweet flavor, entering the Lung, Liver, and Kidney — leaning salty-warm with a markedly stronger supplementing force. Focus: Yang Tai tonifies the kidney and essence and nourishes the blood and qi — for slow chronic essence deficiency, especially with qi-blood loss; Zi He Che tonifies the essence and blood, boosts the qi and assists the yang — for severe essence loss, yang deficiency, or extreme postpartum weakness. Tendency: Yang Tai supplements gently without disturbing the lift-sink — filling the essence baseline; Zi He Che supplements strongly, may raise the yang quickly, and may block the qi — with damp-heat it may feed the evil. Best fit: Yang Tai for slowly developing weakness — weak sore lower back, sallow face, fatigue; Zi He Che for severe essence loss — extreme postpartum weakness or markedly low vitality. Who should avoid: Yang Tai — damp-heat below and external fever; Zi He Che — yin-deficiency with fire, external fever, and caution in pregnancy. Where you meet them: Yang Tai in daily food remedies — soups with chicken; Zi He Che more in formulas as a strong supplement, less in daily food use.

3. One-Line Takeaway

In short, Yang Tai gently warms and supplements for daily essence-qi-blood deficiency; Zi He Che strongly supplements for severe loss and acute weakness. Both serve deficiency patterns — but they are not stand-ins for each other.

Classical Formulas Containing Yang Tai

Classic Formula 1: Da Bu Yuan Jian

Role of this herb: in Da Bu Yuan Jian (Great Origin-Supplementing Decoction), Yang Tai is a supporting herb — tonifying the kidney essence and nourishing the blood and qi — with Ren Shen and Huang Qi as the monarch herbs boosting the qi, Gou Qi Zi and Tu Si Zi supplementing the kidney, and the other herbs regulating the spleen-stomach and lifting the qi. Alone, the sheep placenta cannot cover the qi-boosting and qi-lifting of the full pattern. Traditional focus: qi-blood-kidney essence deficiency — fatigue and poor spirit, weak sore lower back, dizziness and ringing ears, weakness after childbirth. Modern note: professional diagnosis first — never self-apply the formula just because its name or action sounds related to a complaint.

Classic Formula 2: Yang Tai Wan

Role of this herb: in Yang Tai Wan (Sheep Placenta Pill), Yang Tai is the monarch — tonifying the kidney essence — with Shu Di Huang and Shan Zhu Yu strengthening the kidney supplement, and Shan Yao and Fu Ling regulating the spleen-stomach so the supplement does not block the qi. Alone, the placenta cannot cover the kidney-support and spleen-protection of the full pattern. Traditional focus: kidney-essence deficiency — premature emission, weak sore lower back, dizziness — often mild but long-standing. Modern note: professional diagnosis first — the pairings are adjusted by the case; never use it as a general remedy.

Formula vs. Single Herb

A formula is a coordinated whole — each herb has a clear job and the pairings are designed together; a single herb cannot reproduce the full effect. The common misunderstanding is that a herb that works in a formula will work the same way alone — the formula's synergy is missing, and the single herb may even bring discomfort from its one-sided nature. Do not self-formulate from web articles.

Diet & Daily Home Use

1. Home Soup and Tea

Example 1 — Yang Tai and chicken soup: dried Yang Tai 10 g, half an old hen, Sheng Jiang 3 slices, Hong Zao 5 pieces — soak the placenta 2 hours, cut and blanch the chicken, put everything in a clay pot with water over the ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer 2 hours, season lightly. Fit: autumn-winter care for qi-blood deficiency — cold hands and feet, fatigue, a sallow face. Not for: damp-heat constitution, a thick greasy tongue coat, a bloated belly with loose stools. Frequency: 1–2 times a month; no long continuous use.

Example 2 — Yang Tai and wolfberry tea: dried Yang Tai 5 g, Gou Qi Zi 6 g — put both in a thermos, pour boiling water, cover 15 minutes, and drink, refilling until the flavor fades. Fit: daily care for liver-kidney essence deficiency — dizziness and ringing ears from long screen use, weak sore lower back. Not for: yin-deficiency with fire — dry mouth, mouth sores. Frequency: 2–3 times a week. Note: Yang Tai is a medicinal piece, not an ordinary food — never eat it in large amounts like a regular ingredient.

2. Decoction and Processing Differences

The raw placenta has a stronger smell and is usually not used directly in food; the processed piece has a lighter smell and fits daily use. At home, soak the piece 1–2 hours beforehand; for stewing, put it in with the other ingredients — no first, last, wrapped, or rinsed-down step. Different forms cannot be converted directly — the effect of 10 g of the processed piece is not the same as 20 g of the raw piece, because the processing already adjusts the content and dose.

3. Dosage and How Long to Use

The classic range is 3–10 g; food-remedy doses are 5–10 g — slightly lower, because food care aims at gentle adjustment rather than strong action. No long continuous use — generally no more than 1 month at a stretch, then pause 1–2 weeks before resuming. Special groups — pregnancy, children, liver or kidney impairment — consult a practitioner or pharmacist first.

Contraindications & Safety Warnings

1. Who Should Avoid It

Damp-heat below — scanty dark urine, a thick greasy tongue coat — the supplement may feed the evil; pregnancy and nursing — insufficient safety data on effects on the fetus and infant, be cautious; children and the elderly — special constitutions, consult first; liver or kidney impairment — metabolism may be affected, use under a doctor; allergy to cattle-family products — may react, avoid; people on anticoagulant or blood-pressure therapy — consult a doctor first.

2. Interactions and Diet Notes

No sufficient evidence shows Yang Tai directly affects anticoagulant, blood-pressure, blood-sugar, or sedative medicines, but certain herbs may interact with specific medicines — those on medication should consult a doctor or pharmacist first. No blanket "food clash" between ordinary foods is established, but during use avoid overly spicy or greasy food so it does not blunt the care effect, and do not self-pair other supplementing herbs — the dose may add up or the natures may clash.

3. Side Effects and Overuse

Possible discomfort after use includes dry mouth, mouth sores, or a bloated belly — usually from an excessive dose or a mismatched constitution. If marked discomfort, an allergic reaction such as a rash or itch, persistent vomiting, breathing difficulty, confusion, or a rapid worsening of symptoms occurs, stop at once and seek care — never delay. Keep to a strict dose and never raise it freely.

Frequently Asked Questions About Yang Tai

What is Yangtai? Is it the same as Ziheche or Lutai?

Yangtai is the dried placenta of Capra hircus or Ovis aries, Latin name Caprae Placenta. It is a common Chinese medicine centered on warming the kidney, benefiting essence, assisting yang, and tonifying deficiency. Ziheche warms the kidney and tonifies essence while boosting qi. Lutai tonifies the kidney and benefits essence while regulating menstruation. They cannot be used interchangeably in equal amounts. Prescribe as Yangtai. Caution in yin deficiency with fire effulgence.

What are the composition and effects of Yangtai?

Pharmacopoeial related name Yangtai, Latin Capra hircus Linnaeus or Ovis aries Linnaeus. Sweet and salty in taste, warm in nature, enters the Kidney meridian. Functions to warm the kidney, benefit essence, assist yang, and tonify deficiency. Used for kidney deficiency with emaciation, lung deficiency cough and dyspnea, consumptive injury with weakness, and impotence. Warms the kidney and benefits essence.

How to choose between raw and processed? Can Ziheche replace it?

Placenta is used raw or processed. Ziheche emphasizes boosting qi rather than strongly assisting yang, and cannot replace it in equal amounts. Commercial products are standardized; do not adjust arbitrarily.

What is the dosage of Yangtai? Can it be used daily as a yang-assisting tea?

Decoction, 1.5-3g. Modern use requires physician-determined dosage. It is not a year-round "Yangtai tea." Yin deficiency with fire effulgence will be further injured by prolonged use. Kidney deficiency requires short-term, physician-determined dosage and cannot replace evaluation.

What are the contraindications of Yangtai? Can pregnant women use it?

Not suitable for yin deficiency with fire effulgence. Pregnant women require physician evaluation. Stop if dry mouth or irritability with heat occur. Seek immediate medical care for severe kidney deficiency or high fever.

Can Yangtai warm the kidney, benefit essence, and assist yang?

It can assist kidney deficiency with emaciation, lung deficiency cough and dyspnea, consumptive injury with weakness, and impotence. It warms the kidney, benefits essence, assists yang, and tonifies deficiency, but is not a specific remedy for all kidney deficiency or all impotence.

Can Yangtai be taken daily as a yang-assisting or essence-benefiting tea?

Kidney deficiency can be used short-term in formulas; yin deficiency with fire effulgence will be further injured. The idea that "Yangtai must assist yang" cannot replace evaluation. Warming the kidney and benefiting essence requires physician-determined formulation and dosage.

How to choose between Yangtai, Ziheche, Lutai, Yinyanghuo, and Roucongrong?

Yangtai warms the kidney and assists yang, suited to emaciation. Ziheche warms the kidney and boosts qi. Lutai tonifies the kidney and regulates menstruation. Yinyanghuo tonifies kidney yang and dispels wind. Roucongrong tonifies kidney yang and moistens the intestines. Choose Yangtai for assisting yang; Ziheche for boosting qi; Lutai for regulating menstruation; Yinyanghuo for dispelling wind; Roucongrong for moistening the intestines. Pattern differentiation applies, but large doses of Yangtai are contraindicated in yin deficiency with fire effulgence.

How is Yangtai commonly modified? What is a representative usage?

Modifications depend on the pattern. Add Yinyanghuo for kidney deficiency; add Huangqi for emaciation. Specify Yangtai; do not substitute Ziheche in equal amounts for assisting yang.

How to select and store Yangtai?

Choose regular Chinese medicinal materials with intact placentas. Discard if moldy, damp, or abnormal in odor. Store in a dry place. Purchase "Yangtai"; do not substitute Ziheche or Lutai in equal amounts for warming the kidney, benefiting essence, and assisting yang.

Related Products

Nong's Yang Tai (Sheep Placenta) Single Herb 1:1 Concentrated Granules $125.59

Medical Disclaimer — This article is provided for educational purposes only and describes traditional Chinese medicine concepts. It is not medical advice, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified practitioner before using any herb, particularly if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication or managing a diagnosed condition.