Chicken soup has long been regarded as a remedy for colds and flu. Many people say they feel better after a bowl of hot chicken soup. A good deal has been written lately about the healing effects of chicken soup, so I decided to check into it.
A recent study * that has received quite a bit of publicity shows that chicken soup has an anti-inflammatory effect and can reduce congestion. It has been shown to inhibit the activity of neutrophils, white blood cells that stimulate the inflammatory response and the release of mucous.
Caution is needed before getting too excited about this. The inflammatory response is exactly what the body needs in order to expel a cold or flu from the body. Inhibiting the activity of the white blood cells may not be such a great idea.
Modern allopathic medicine tends to look for ways to suppress symptoms, mainly through drugs, regardless of how it can get in the way of the healing process. It’s great that they are studying how foods can affect the body medicinally. But to stimulate a true healing response for a cold or flu, it makes more sense to go with medicinal herbal teas and homeopathic remedies than with chicken soup.
Even so, chicken soup may help your child to feel better and offers much in the way of nutrition and strengthening the body. Gelatin-rich broths should be a regular part of a child’s diet. A properly prepared chicken stock can be very nutritious, containing a wealth of minerals from the vegetables and from the bones, cartilage, and marrow of the chicken. The vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, parsley, sweet potatoes, parsnips and turnips) typically added to chicken stock contain nutrients and active compounds that can be both healing and preventive. Make sure the stock is properly prepared from a free-range chicken with no antibiotics.
Of course, the loving care that goes into making a pot of chicken soup can also go a long way in providing the emotional well-being that is also needed for health and healing.
If you want to make a soup that has anti-viral properties, add a clove of fresh garlic before serving. Since cooking weakens the active compounds, add crushed, raw garlic to the soup at the last minute. If your child will handle it, add a lot of hot and spicy ingredients, like cayenne pepper, fresh garlic, ginger and onions to your broths to increase the healing power. These spicy foods will also help to thin out respiratory mucus. My preference is to leave out the noodles, as the can contain gluten.
A child’s appetite usually declines with an illness, and soup with a lot of chicken and noodles may add more strain to the liver that is already working hard to neutralize the toxic effects of the virus. If your child has a fever, probably the last thing she wants or needs is to eat, but drinking a broth can be soothing and hydrating. When your child is sick, trust the wisdom of her body and let her appetite be the guide.
* "Chicken Soup Inhibits Neutrophil Chemotaxis In Vitro" Chest, Vol. 118, No. 4, chestjournal.org
Dr. Joseph Gitto, BA, DC, CFMP, FDN, CWC
331 Tilton Road, Northfield, NJ
609-484-9300
www.drgitto.com