What You Don't Know About Chicken Soup

It’s exciting to know that the yuletide is around the corner, and it is more interesting to feel the frills and the grills that come with the season, such as the different chicken dishes and rice variants.

Aside the delicious delicacies of assorted chicken, as Xmas season is aka ‘chicken chopping time’, studies have shown that chicken soup can actually ease your cold, thus offering double benefits.

Experts have established it that chicken soup can have anti-inflammatory affects, which can ease the symptoms of colds. In fact, further studies have found that the aroma, spices and heat from the soup can clear sinuses and decrease congestion. I guess with this eye-opening information, you will be warming up by now to devour more chicken than ever. (Smiles).

Embarking on an investigative mission to verify the myth traceable to the recommendation of the Egyptian Jewish physician and philosopher, Moshe ben Maimon, who first prescribed chicken soup for cold symptoms in his 12th century writings, a researcher from University of Nebraska , put his 'grandma's soup' recipe to the test.

According to the findings published on Daily Mail online, Dr Stephen Rennard studied three batches of what he calls Grandma's Soup, which includes chicken, onions, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots, celery stems, parsley, salt and pepper.

He was said to have examined if the movement of neutrophils, the most common white cell in the blood that defends the body against infection, would be blocked or reduced by chicken soup.

It is suspected that reducing the movement of neutrophils could decrease activity in the upper respiratory tract that causes cold-like symptoms.

And the results found just that, suggesting that chicken soup might have an anti-inflammatory component, which may ease symptoms and shorten upper respiratory tract infections.

The researcher however noted that the study wasn't done on humans, but instead their white blood cells. This is due to the release of fluids from a runny nose or feverish sweat that causes dehydration.

It was further suggested that, the chicken alone might not be responsible for the result, but that the aromatic natural spices may play great role in the process. So when you're sick, your body needs to replace those lost fluids and a brothy soup can do just that, Dr van Diepen stated.

Just as it has been observed that most soups include ingredients high in nutrients. Grandma's Soup contains more than five vegetables high in fiber, vitamin C and antioxidants.

Now that this is revealed to you, I hope you will do yourself and loved ones a great deal of favour by stuffing your kitchen with enough natural chicken soup spices for the season!