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Chicken soup and common colds
It’s the cold season. Can chicken soup help me get through those miserable days?
Going as far back as the 12th century, Jewish scholars have touted the effectiveness of chicken soup for a variety of ailments, including the common cold. Are the wonders of chicken soup just cultural myths passed down from generation to generation, or can soup really cure a cold?
Chicken soup is made from a stock or broth and a variety of veggies. In a stock, the chicken bones are cooked for a few hours. This gives enough time for zinc, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium to seep into the liquid stock. These same minerals won’t be in a broth made from the meat only. Of course both soups and stocks are made from a variety of veggies — all of their minerals seep into the liquid too.
There are numerous theories of how chicken soup helps ward off the sniffles. One study found that sipping hot chicken soup helped clear stuffy noses, but the study found it was effective only for a few minutes and that it wasn’t any more effective than sipping hot water.
A few scientific studies showed that zinc can help shorten the duration of a cold. However, you need to start taking more zinc within 24 hours from the first symptoms. Many of these studies were done with lozenges or zinc supplements, so it’s difficult to say if chicken soup has enough zinc to be effective.
A recent study from the University of Nebraska found that chicken soup may contain anti-inflammatory substances that could help alleviate a cold. Although the evidence isn’t terribly strong, numerous studies show that chicken soup may help fight a cold.
If you’re a believer, then who are we to dispel the myth of chicken soup?
— Food Network Kitchens
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