Effects of banana drinks taken for fatigue reduction

Levels of fatigue may relate to motives of food or drink choice. This study aimed to test the banana drink effects in comparison to drinking water on fatigue reduction. The Labeled Magnitude Fatigue Scale (LMFS) was applied with Thai subjects (n=45). Scale reliability and validity in measuring fatigue were tested by internal consistency and physiological changes, respectively. The results showed that after drinking the banana drinks, fatigue mean scores were reduced more than those obtained from drinking water (p 0.01). When the subjects were classified into high and low fatigue groups, there was no beverage effect on fatigue reduction in ‘low fatigue group’. However, the banana drinks showed impact on fatigue reduction more than drinking water did in ‘high fatigue group’. This discovery should be beneficial for segmenting consumers in beverage markets. The LMFS shows high reliability (α range between 0.89-0.90) and high validity when related with heart rate (r range between 0.62-0.65).