Manufacturers of chicken essence have claimed for years that their brews are good for improving brain performance, increasing energy levels and keeping stress at bay.
According to Vivien Chou, founder of Integrated Chinese Medicine Holdings Ltd, in traditional Chinese medicine, chicken essence is categorised as a qi tonic that can promote good digestion, enhance vitality, and replenish marrow in the bones and brain.
'Chicken meat is sweet and warm in properties, and mainly manifests its actions in the stomach and spleen,' says Chou.
New research claims to reveal how chicken essence works. The Brand's Brain Research Centre, a Singapore facility set up by the manufacturers of Brand's Chicken Essence, says it has identified a new compound - a dipeptide, produced when proteins are digested - in chicken essence that improves mental performance. They call it ProBeptigen.
According to Brand's, ProBeptigen does not occur naturally in chicken meat. It is produced through the chicken essence manufacturing process, which involves hot water extraction from chicken meat under high pressure.
The centre's Dr Paramjeet Singh presented the findings at the Asian Congress of Nutrition in Singapore a few months ago. Singapore-based Cerebos, which produces Brand's products, and Japan's Suntory Group, its parent company, have filed patents for ProBeptigen. The report has been submitted to journals, but when asked for the publication titles, a Brand's spokesman says the scientists are 'concerned about sharing their research ahead of it being published'.
However, with a lack of independent studies to back it up it is perhaps best to proceed with discernment.