Feed a Cold, Starve a Cold?

As it's getting to be that cold-and-flu time of the year again, this information may come in handy, courtesy of our friends at wisegeek.com:

People should not really feed a cold and starve a fever. Research has indicated that eating is helpful in both cases. The origins of the myth are thought to date back to 1574, when a dictionary entry by lexicographer John Withals stated that not eating would help cool down a high temperature because the act of eating generates heat. Researchers now believe eating is helpful for the body to lower a fever because the increase in body temperature is a response of the immune system to fight illness, which in turn makes the body require more energy.

More about the cold and fever:

• Sleeping eight hours a night makes a person three times less likely to catch a cold, according to a Carnegie Mellon University study.


• Chicken soup has been touted as a cure for cold and fever; however, it is actually the calories and liquid the meal contains that are thought to help the body fight illness and prevent dehydration.


• Cold temperatures have not been found to actually cause cold viruses and fever, they are just more likely in cold seasons because the lower humidity levels make it easier to transmit viruses.