It almost seems a bit redundant to point out that tea might have the ability to alleviate fatigue. After all, for many people who drink it (and coffee) that's one of tea's most appealing features. But, according to more than one study, it's not just the caffeine content of tea that imparts this benefit.
Recent research in Japan appears to have confirmed what for many people was already a given, that tea may help cut down on physical and mental fatigue. Results of a study that appeared in the journal Nutrition in 2008 indicated that a green tea extract helped counter the accumulated effects of fatigue.
The tests were carried out on rats and found that those fed a green tea compound called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) were able to exercise longer than animals in a control group. Researchers noted that those in the control group experienced increased levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), which were lessened in the group given EGCG.
A previous study indicated that green tea extract tended to alleviate chronic fatigue-induced oxidative stress in mice. According to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and DePaul University, there are more than one million people, just in the United States alone, who suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at India's Panjab University, treated mice with a combination of green tea extract and catechin, a compound also found in tea. They concluded "that GTE and catechin could be used as potential agents in the management of CFS and warrant the inclusion of GTE and catechin in the treatment regimen of CFS patients.
The notion that tea (and coffee) can help with fatigue is obviously not a new one, as evidenced by this 1989 article - Fatigue: Often Tea & Coffee Can Alleviate Symptoms - which first appeared in the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
original article with links here: