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When cold and flu season strikes us down, we'll try just about anything to feel better - sometimes that means stocking up on chicken soup or stuffing cloves of garlic down our socks.
But how many of these home remedies actually work? Are they rooted in fact or just an old wise tale?
Two health experts debunk some of the most common winter ailment myths.
Does stuffing garlic in your socks bring down a fever?
Nutritionist Julie North says the best way to get the goodness from food is to eat it.
"We need the digestive tract; we need the enzymes in your saliva to release all the goodness out of your food. I'm not aware of any evidence that it works, but there's no harm in trying."
Dr Lynn McBain, head of department of primary health and general practice at the University of Otago, tends to agree.
"Garlic itself might reduce the risk of getting a cold, but it doesn't have to be in the socks. People who take garlic tablets or eat garlic regularly, there might be a slight advantage, it might reduce the risk of getting a cold, but the idea of putting it in your socks so it absorbs through your skin is very unhelpful."
The verdict: You're better off eating garlic than you are strapping it to your feet.
Does chicken soup fix a cold?
Dr Lynn says chicken soup will certainly make people feel better - but so will any old soup.
"Being able to have something warm feels good; the steam on it helps reduce congestion, and it might be giving people some nutrition if they're not feeling like eating much with a cold. There are a few claims that particular ingredients of chicken soup are particularly better than other soups, but that's probably marginal. But the fact of having a hot drink or hot soup is probably quite good for symptoms."
Healing homemade chicken soup Photo: supplied
North says chicken soup won't fix a cold per se, but the nutritional value of a well-balanced meal like it will help you feel better.
"It's a good way to keep your fluids up, quite nourishing, often with some good vegetables in the stock as well, lean meats like that are always a useful thing to be eating, but it won't as such fix a cold."
North says bone broth could be the key to getting the best out of any soup.
"The amino acids, collagen that could be in bone broth adds some level of benefit. There are some links there that need to be further researched. Amino-acids wise, glutamine may have anti-inflammatory properties, but it is a non-essential amino acid, meaning our body can make it ourselves anyway. But maybe there's a little more additionally coming from bone broth."
The verdict: You'll never regret having a bowl of soup.
Can wet hair and bare feet worsen a cold?
Dr Lynn says there's a slight bit of truth to this one.
"With wet hair in cold, you're gonna lose a lot of heat through the top of your head, and the same if you feet are cold and wet, you'll lose body heat. That means it's taking some of the circulation away from the more central parts of your body, and your immune system will be working overtime to reduce the chances of viruses infecting you.
"But it's not like a virus gets in through your wet hair. It's that it may affect your overall immunity."
The verdict: Use the hair dryer and get your cosy socks on - keeping your body evenly warm is key to keeping your immunity strong.
Photo: Unsplash
Can tapping your thymus enhance your immunity?
It's a strong no from Dr Lynn.
"That's complete rubbish. The thing to know about colds in general is they get better; a straightforward, upper respiratory tract infection, a cold, gets better no matter what you do. So, if you've been spending time tapping your thymus, yes, you're going to get better, but there's absolutely no medical link between thymus tapping and improving your immune system."
The verdict: Tap away all you want if it makes you feel better - just know that it's time healing you.
Is turmeric the key to good health?
It's hard to say because we consume it in such miniscule amounts, North says.
"There's a component in turmeric called curcumin; that compound possibly has some anti-inflammatory effects as well, so that could be beneficial to us. The difficulty with something like turmeric is that we tend to eat it in small amounts, so it can be difficult then, even in a general diet, to get a lot of those compounds in through just eating spices and herbs. You could make a soup with fresh turmeric and bone broth and you'd be giving it a go."
Photo: 123rf/Sommai Larkjit
Dr Lynn says turmeric can bring a soothing element to a sore throat, much like honey can.
"It's probably not worth doing turmeric tablets, but a turmeric drink might help. It's sort of along the lines of getting that warmth from chicken soup or having some honey in a hot drink. People say Manuka honey, especially, is quite a soothing thing. It's the same idea as turmeric, in that it might marginally help symptoms."
The verdict: If a bit of soothing is what you're after, there's no harm in giving hot turmeric drinks a go.
Does drinking milk increase phlegm?
Not at all, Dr Lynn says.
"Milk is a thicker liquid, so if you have a sore throat or inflamed breathing tubes, it may feel quite a bit different as you swallow it down and almost give you the feeling of more phlegm there, but it's the milk that's feeling different. There's no problem with having milk when you're sick, it'll just give you a different feeling in the back of your throat because everything's so inflamed inside."
North says thinking of milk as a food rather than a fluid can help us understand why it feels thicker in our throats.
"Milk is giving us so much more that it's like a food itself - it's giving us protein, calcium, other minerals. When you compare drinking a glass of milk to water, you feel more substance in that so people will notice more in the mouth, almost like a coating. That's simply because it's liquid food. There's no evidence that milk adds to mucus, this one is definitely a myth."
The verdict: It's all an illusion - you aren't producing more phlegm; milk is just thick.
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The bottom line
These winter lurgy myths are simply that - myths. But while they don't necessarily have scientific backing, these remedies have travelled over time because they may have worked for some people. Our health experts say it doesn't hurt to try what feels good for you.
"It's normal to get colds in the winter. As long as people are not spending heaps of money on various remedies and not overdoing it, there's probably no harm," Dr Lynn says.
"Sometimes people want to feel that they're doing something to help themselves. The best advice is to eat well and keep in good health, and it will shorten your recovery time if you do fall ill," North says.
"Eat plenty of vegetables, good dairy, good meats, essential fats, eggs. Minerals like copper, iron, selenium and zinc will help, as will vitamins like folate, vitamin C, B6, B12, they're particularly good, and then there's vitamin A and D too. They're all gonna help you out."
