A woman’s life is a series of seven-year cycles.  At age 14, the first year of her third cycle, she transforms from a child into a woman when she begins menstruating.  Or, as the ancient Chinese medical text Huang Di Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic) states, the life force of the kidneys, or kidney qi (pronounced CHEE), is at its fullest.  Since the kidneys govern reproductive and sexual functions, Chinese medicine holds, the onset of menses is a dramatic display of the kidneys’ health and vitality.

As a woman ages, her kidney qui decreases.  At 49, the beginning of her eighth seven-year cycle, kidney qi wanes to the point that childbearing is no longer possible and menstruation ceases. Nourishment of the kidneys, ancient physicians maintained, is key to a woman’s good health throughout her life, but especially during the transition known as menopause.  Even today, kidney tonification, through the use of specially designed bupleurum containing herbal formulas, remains the primary menopausal therapy in China.