Chicken Soup

Every culture has its comfort foods. 

Wherever we’ve lived, I’ve enjoyed exploring them. (I do enjoy food, after all!)

Some comfort foods are nearly worldwide, though … especially chicken soup! The theme might vary a bit (chicken broth-based miso soup in Hawaii, for example), but there is something amazingly comforting about a warm bowl of steamy soup. It really helps you to feel better … especially when you are ill!

We are full-on into the winter respiratory season, with a generous ’sprinkling’ of GI viruses going around as well. At the office, we’re fielding plenty of calls about how to help folks feel better. 

We don’t have great cures for viruses, unfortunately, but we are always happy to talk about comfort measures!

For a miserable head cold, humidifying the environment and drinking plenty of fluids helps to mitigate the discomfort that comes along with that congestion. We often recommend a spoonful of honey (instead of proprietary cough & cold preparations) to ease a sore or scratchy throat. And the combination of warmth, steam and a salty broth makes chicken soup a popular cure as well!

I was thinking about this recently, and remembering an old study in which researchers at the University of Nebraska (Drs. Robbins and Rennard et al, published in Chest, 2000) attempted to analyze their Grandma’s chicken soup recipe, to see if there was a scientific basis for the ‘comfort cure’. They did a nice job isolating and analyzing the various ingredients, concluding that: at least in the lab, her chicken soup (and to a certain extent, some of the commercial chicken soups), inhibited neutrophil chemotaxis in a helpful manner. So - if you need an extra reason - there is a bit of scientific evidence to support the use of that chicken soup!

https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(15)37721-7/abstract

Grandmas the world over would be proud …

Adda Winkes, MD