Effects of Chicken Extract on the Recovery from Fatigue Caused by Mental Workload.

Abstract

Folk wisdom suggests that chicken extract is useful for recovery from physical and mental fatigue. To explore this question, the physiological effect of Brand's Essence of Chicken (BEC), a popular chicken extract used as a traditional remedy, was assessed during recovering from mental stress. We quantitated the blood levels of stress-related substances, and examined the task performance and subjects' mood states during mental workloads. Subjects were 20, healthy male students who have never tasted BEC. They took two bottles of BEC or a placebo (70 ml/bottle) daily in the morning for 7 days. On the final experimental day, two mental workload tests were performed: (A) a mental arithmetic test (MAT; 1600 trials of two or three figure-addition or subtraction for 40 min). (B) a short-term memory test (SMT; 20 trials of memorizing 9 digit numbers). Blood was collected before and after each workload task. After the mental workload, the recovery of mean cortisol level of subjects who consumed BEC was significantly faster than that for those consuming the placebo. The task performance of subjects performing the MAT and SMT was also improved with BEC consumption compared with placebo. According to the profile of mood state questionnaire, subjects felt more active and less fatigued during the workload when they took BEC regularly. We conclude that the extract of chicken has the potential to metabolize stress-related substance in blood and to promote recovery from mental fatigue.

Anti-Stress Effect of BRAND'S Essence of Chicken (BEC) on Plasma Glucose Levels in Mice Loaded with Restraint Stress

“…In the restrained group, the mice were starved and confined to an oval metal restraint cage for 20 hr, 35 min before glucose administration. Water, a gelatin solution composed of 7.2% gelatin in 0.3% caramel solution with the same caloric content as BEC 9) and BEC were given orally at 0.1 ml/10 g body weight daily for 5 days before the restraint began, and those solutions were also given at the end of restraint stress loading, 35 min before glucose injection to mice that had been starved and restrained for 20 hr, respectively (Fig. 1).…”

Chicken Collagen Hydrolysate-derived Peptides Inhibit Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-induced Inflammatory Response in Endothelial Cells

“…In addition, chicken soup improves hypertension (Nagai et al, 1996;Sim, 2001;Matsumura et al, 2002). In investigating further the effects of collagen peptides on the circulatory system, we hypothesized that collagen peptides extracted from chicken would have beneficial effects.…”

Effect of Chicken Soup Intake on Mood States and Peripheral Blood Flow in Humans

“…For example, in Western countries, chicken soup is traditionally eaten when an individual catches a cold, 1) and chicken extract is used as a health-promoting drink in Southeast Asian countries. 2) The physiological functions of chicken soup or extract have become a subject of study in recent years. Human study demonstrated such effects as improvement of nasal mucus secretion, 3) sustaining strength in strenuous, repetitive exercise, 4) enhancement of the metabolic rate, 5,6) improvement of the serum iron level recovery after blood donation, 7) increases in beneficial contents in maternal milk, 8) and improvement of skin conditions.…”