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In Japan, a traditional summer illness is natsubate, summer fatigue, and the traditional way of relieving symptoms is to eat eel for "stamina". Is there any science behind this tradition?

Ken Y-N
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    Perhaps the first question should be "Is summer fatigue an illness recognised by the medical professional?" – Oddthinking Jul 17 '13 at 06:16
  • @Oddthinking It's probably a _feeling_ http://kanannie.com/tag/natsubate/ – Dr. belisarius Jul 17 '13 at 21:57
  • I think it is a syndrome recognised by at least nutritionists. Searching Japanese academic online library catalogue, I [found 178 matches](http://ci.nii.ac.jp/search?q=%E5%A4%8F%E3%83%90%E3%83%86&range=0&count=&sortorder=&type=0), although the first page had a couple of false matches and general texts like cookery books along with perhaps relevant texts. I'm aware that *katakori*, stiff shoulders, is a real complaint but perhaps a learnt response to stress, the Japanese equivalent of a knotted stomach. – Ken Y-N Jul 18 '13 at 00:03
  • @KenY-N Asking whether katakori is real, and whether generally only Japanese people suffer from it, would be an interesting question for skeptics.SE. – Andrew Grimm Jul 18 '13 at 03:21
  • @AndrewGrimm, [this paper](http://fampra.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/5/528.full) describes *katakori* as a somatic response to depression (not stress as I mistakenly said above) - if you think it is insufficient, I could post a question, though. My own anecdote is taking the company (I live in Japan) annual check-up one year, which includes a neck and shoulder muscle check, and the doctor making a comment to me about being unable to find any knotted muscles, and he was quite surprised when I said I have never suffered from it. – Ken Y-N Jul 18 '13 at 04:40
  • As this recently got an upvote, I am reminded of an anecdote I heard this summer on Japanese TV - in the Edo period when the tradition stated, there was a lack of Vitamin E (?) in the diet, and in summer that results in fatigue, so with eel being a good source there was a noticeable benefit. However, with a modern diet there is sufficient nutrients from other sources, so eel is no longer necessary. – Ken Y-N Aug 19 '15 at 23:40

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