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Green Tea and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS) is a disease that can make you so tired and depressed
that you may not be able to get through your normal daily tasks. This
constant feeling of exhaustion is long-term (lasting more than 6
months), and any physical or mental activity intensifies the fatigue.
Unfortunately, getting lots of rest probably won’t improve the symptoms.
Although the
cause of CFS in unclear, some studies have shown that it could be
partially due to oxidative stress (the excess production of free
radicals in the body). Since green tea has powerful free
radical-quenching abilities, a team of researchers in India decided to
find out whether the tea might also have anti-CFS effects.
In
order to do this, they induced fatigue in mice specially bred to develop
CFS by forcing them to swim in a water-filled glass cylinder for 6
minutes a day for 7 straight days. 1 As expected, the mice
developed signs of oxidative stress: their lipid peroxidation levels
went up, while their levels of glutathione (the body’s most powerful
antioxidant) went down.
As
the days went by, the mice also began to take on an “immobile posture”
earlier and earlier in each swimming session. When mice are forced to
swim in a container and can't escape, they quickly adopt a sort of
“frozen” posture, moving only as much as they must to keep their heads
above water. This immobile posture is believed to be a sign of despair
or depression – an indication that the animals have given up hope of
escaping.
So
what happened when the mice were given green tea extract or green tea
catechins? Compared to the mice in the control group, their lipid
peroxidation levels were lower, their glutathione levels were restored,
and their increased immobility time was reversed. In other words, green
tea protected the mice against oxidative stress and
depression/despair, both of which are linked to CFS.
The
researchers concluded that green tea extract and catechins “could be
used as potential agents in the management of CFS…”
Footnote:
1
Singal A, Kaur S, Tirkey N, et al. Green tea extract and catechin
ameliorate chronic fatigue-induced oxidative stress in mice. J Med Food
2005;8(10):47-52.
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Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
GreenTeaLibrary.com,
the most comprehensive collection of scientific information
describing the health benefits of green tea.
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