A traditional Chinese medicine herbal soup has been found to ease cancer-related fatigue in patients with moderate to severe symptoms.

In a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, an international team of researchers found that cancer patients who added a soup mixture known as Ren Shen Yangrong Tang (RSYRT) — containing 12 medicinal herbs — to their diets reported significantly less fatigue within three weeks of treatment.

The research — led by Xin Shelley Wang, M.D., of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Yichen Xu, M.D., Yanzhi Chen, M.D., and Pingping Li, M.D., of Peking University School of Oncology in Beijing, China — assessed patients’ levels of fatigue in cancer patients before and after RSYRT therapy.

Those who took RSYRT twice a day for six weeks reported marked improvements in their energy levels after just three weeks.

Fatigue is a common side effect of cancer treatment and poses a major challenges in oncology care. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believe fatigue is characterized by a deficiency in Qi, a physical life force related to the energy flow of the body.

The herbs in RSYRT work by improving Qi deficiency, the researchers said. They also noted RSYRT was found to be safe, with no evidence of toxicity in any of the patients treated.