Chicken Soup Cures for the Common Cold

Your mom was on to something when she fed you chicken soup at the first sign of a cold. Although it has been used for years as a home remedy, most people associate chicken soup with the comfort it provides when you have a cold, but do not see it as a cure for the cold itself. The Mayo Clinic, however, lists chicken soup as one of its top cold remedies that actually works.

The Science Behind Chicken Soup

• Chicken soup is more than a comfort food when you are feeling sick; there is actually science behind its use as a cold remedy. A well-known chicken soup study was conducted in 1993 by Dr. Stephen Rennard at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Rennard tested a variety of chicken soup recipes, both homemade and canned, and found that the soup stops the movement of inflammation-causing white blood cells called neutrophils. A 1978 study by K. Saketkhoo et al, "Effects of drinking hot water, cold water, and chicken soup on nasal mucus velocity and nasal airflow resistance," found that drinking hot chicken soup effectively loosens nasal mucous secretions, which helps you rid them from your body faster, easing cold symptoms and congestion.

Homemade or Canned?

• Rennard did not find one particular chicken soup ingredient to be instrumental in treating the common cold. The ingredients in the homemade soup that he tested included chicken, parsnips, onions, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, parsley and turnips. The results of his study indicate that it is the many ingredients in the soup working together that are responsible for easing a cold. While many canned soups were also tested and found to be beneficial, Rennard's study did not specifically examine which brands were, and were not, effective.

  If you purchase a canned soup to treat your cold, opt for one that has a large quantity of vegetables. The liquid in chicken soup also helps rehydrate your body, which is necessary for mucous in your body to stay loose, so it can be expelled. One final benefit of chicken soup for a cold is that it provides a level of psychological and emotional comfort that can help speed up physical healing.