Chicken Soup and a Cold

When you mom gives you chicken soup, it's a wisdom of the ages, a millennium, because that's how long healers have believed it can treat the common cold. But is this supported by science?

Chickens were domesticated between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. It's likely the Chinese were the first to suggest chicken soup has medicinal uses and brought it to the west. Aretaeus, a Greek physician in the second century CE used boiled chicken to treat respiratory tract disorders. In fact, he gave the first accurate description of asthma.

A more famous reference to chicken soup is from Maimonides, the great Jewish physician who said that "chicken soup be used as a cure for whatever might ail you" including the common cold and melancholia.

Even with all this history along with studies that claim it can treat disorders including arthritis, impotence, and asthma, the evidence is scant.

A published study in 2000 showed chicken soup has mild anti-inflammatory effects that inhibit white blood cells. This can relieve cold symptoms since less mucus gets made but that's speculating. Studies show inhaling vapors from the soup increased nasal temperature which loosens mucus secretions and eases congestion. That's also not saying chicken soup has some great therapeutic effect. But - it can't hurt, right?

So, in case you want to stock up on Campbell's Noodle Soup, which no doubt banks on this "mom" wisdom since it sold more than 200 million cans in 2013 alone, homemade is undoubtedly better.