Dr.Steve’s BOTTOM LINE: Fatigue is common these days, and even aside from diagnoses of fibromyalgia and fatigue syndromes, all of us feel run down at some point or another. A Chinese herb, Cistanche deserticola, commonly called Rou Cong Rong, has pharmaceutically active materials. These are known in Chinese as suosuo dayun ( 索索大元), which are produced by slicing the stems of the plant. Unfortunately, the herb is on the world’s endangered species list so it this study about its fatigue fighting properties is right on, we may run out…… Does it work?

This research study was performed on rats, but what they measured is pretty objective and hard to fake. Specifically, in addition to checking time to exhaustion from swimming, blood tests that measure muscle fatigue were checked. These are common blood tests that might be similarly used in humans. It appears that at least in rats, Cistanche deserticola is pretty active. No human trials, but this provides a scientific basis for its potential effectiveness. One parting comment.. This is a specific type of Cistanche that was tested, others may not have the same properties (the Japanese Cistanche salsa for example). Also be careful of the purity of anything you consider buying. Given the increasing rarity, it may be significantly cut by other herbs included in whatever mix is being sold.

Antifatigue activity of phenylethanoid-rich extract from Cistanche deserticola.

Phytother Res. 2010 Feb;24(2):313-5

Authors: Cai RL, Yang MH, Shi Y, Chen J, Li YC, Qi Y

A phenylethanoid-rich extract (ECD) of Cistanche deserticola Y.C. Ma, a holoparasitic plant and a valuable traditional Chinese medicine, was evaluated for antifatigue activity in ICR mice. ECD (0.25, 0.50, 1.00 g/kg) was administered orally to mice for 3 weeks. The swimming time to exhaustion was longer in the treatment groups (0.50, 1.00 g/kg) than in the control group (p < 0.01). The serum creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and lactic acid levels were decreased significantly in the treatment groups compared with the control group, while the contents of hemoglobin and glucose were increased significantly. In conclusion, ECD appeared to enhance the swimming capacity of mice by decreasing muscle damage, delaying the accumulation of lactic acid and by improving the energy storage. These results provide scientific evidence for the traditional Chinese medical practice of C. deserticola.

PMID: 19610039 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]