Beijing, May 21 (IANS): A traditional Chinese medicine, a soup containing 12 herbs has been found to significantly reduce fatigue suffered by cancer patients within two-three weeks of the treatment, new study says.

The researchers tested the safety and efficacy of the herbal mixture Ren Shen Yangrong Tang (RSYRT).

Yichen Xu and colleagues from Peking University School of Oncology in Beijing, China, along with Xin Shelley Wang from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, US, assessed the level of fatigue in cancer patients before and after RSYRT therapy.

Patients took RSYRT twice a day for six weeks. The researchers found that RSYRT was both effective and safe, with no evidence of toxicity in any of the patients treated.

Fatigue is one of the major challenges in cancer care. According to traditional Chinese medicine, fatigue is characterised by a deficiency in Qi, a physical life force related to the energy flow of the body. RSYRT is intended to improve Qi deficiency.

The results appeared in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.