The power of a bowl of chicken soup
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the foodies of online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat and what to cook. This time our chefs serve you: the power of a bowl of chicken soup.
When you're sick, often the only thing you crave is a big bowl of chicken soup. As soon as you bring the spoon to your mouth, you feel your body miraculously healing. Why is that?
Warmth and hydration
A good bowl of chicken soup contains salty broth, healthy vegetables and vermicelli, noodles or rice. The broth provides hydration and the warmth helps with a sore throat. The vegetables provide the necessary vitamins. The carbohydrates give extra substance to the soup and are therefore a good source of energy.
Healing
Studies show that breathing with a cold becomes easier after eating chicken soup. The warmth allows for freer airways as mucus loosens. The aromas of chicken soup also help with this according to this research. More mucus is released with chicken soup than with drinking plain hot water.
Free airways and hydration, all nice, but do I really get better from it? Research by American Dr. Stephen Rennard says that chicken soup contains substances that would reduce cold symptoms, unfortunately this research has never been tested on sick people and we cannot say with certainty what effect it has on people. “There is no specific substance in chicken soup that makes you better. However, it is a good way to get something in when you have little appetite,” says Lolkje de Vries from the Nutrition Center. Believing that chicken soup makes you better creates a placebo effect. Through the conviction that chicken soup makes you better and nostalgia for your mother's chicken soup from the past, you feel better.
Are you making your Asian chicken soup? Research shows that ginger has anti-inflammatory properties, exactly what you need in times of illness. It is also full of antioxidants and may help against nausea. Do you have a stomach ache? Then increase the ginger dose, as it also helps to reduce stomach pain.
