Short Stuff: Feed A Cold, Starve a Fever | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff. there's Chuck and I'm Josh and Jerry's. here to sitting in for Dave so this is. short stuff that's right uh call it old. wives tale Edition mhm uh because this. is about feeding a cold and starving a. fever which is the old wives tale that. when you have a cold you should uh an. originally started out as stuff aold. like eat as much as you can uh and then. if you have a fever you should try and.

not eat very much at all yeah I think. most people have heard that right that's. a pretty pretty widespread adage sure. yeah um our friends at the Cleveland. Clinic not normally known for their. emology resources but they Trac this. back at least half of it to. 1574 there's a dictionary that was. compiled by a guy named John Wiles and. wles said that fasting is a great remedy. of fever so you got the second part. right there starve a fever right.

it's as far back as anyone's traced it. although if you kind of want to expand. your definition of what's being. discussed here you can trace it all the. way back to hypocrates right yeah I'm. not sure about this one he said the most. a most exquisitely slender diet uh you. should have when the disease is very. sharp so not quite sure what disease. he's talking about there so I'm not sure. if that counts no but I mean just the. phrase most exquisitely slender diet. sounds awesome so I thought it was worth. putting in there yeah for sure um if you.

look at the current use of the term as. we know and love it uh it came about in. the 18th century uh pretty late in 18. well I guess kind of mid um in 1853. that's when they were talking about feed. and starve as far as cold and fever go. uh what's weird Chuck is I saw that um. it was this whole adage that we that is. like basically encouragements taken as. an encouragement or advice today uh was. originally taken um as like a warning.

that if you feed a cold that cold will. turn into a fever and then you'll have. to starve the fever like and that the. reason that it was ambiguous was because. of that comma in the middle yeah you. know that just proved to me that people. back then were. dumb a little. bit I don't get that one but sure okay. but well what was the whole point I mean. like if if the what was the idea that. was based on I guess then yeah I guess. they were basing it on uh if you have a.

fever then you don't want to eat hot. food uh I guess he didn't eat a lot of. cold foods back then I guess not and if. you cold you want to warm yourself up. because there was only hot food. available sure that was I think what. they think the whole thing was based on. and regardless of how you slice it. though how you take it as a warning or. anything like that it's it's pretty much. generally viewed as not good advice by. the medical community today I say we. take a break and come back and talk. about how this is not really good advice.

how about how about that all right let's. do. [Music]. it. [Music]. y uh okay so people have basically.

always said that this was a bad idea uh. there was a writer in gentleman's. magazine in. 1785 uh that said it was perhaps more. destructive to mankind than the plague. itself this advice which is definitely. overstating things uh but uh people. these days say no that's not good advice. uh first of all if you have a cold um. you may not want to eat very much you. may not be very hungry so like for God's. sake don't just make someone stuff them. themselves full just because they're.

sick with a cold it's not going to do. anything for you no and that's bad. enough but the the actual harm is in the. second part starving a fever because. pretty much everybody in the medical. community agrees that if you feel hungry. while you're sick you should go ahead. and eat because your appetite can come. and go and it can be so thin you want to. take advantage of it when it does show. up and um even more to the point if you. starve yourself on purpose while you. have a a fever you're robbing yourself.

of some really much needed nutrients and. calories that your body really needs. specifically when you have a fever yeah. if your metabolism is kicking in in a. substantial way it's going to um you. know if you're just laying around in bed. that'll make you eat up more of your. calories and nutrients than you uh that. you have in your body so you're going to. want as much as you can uh so if you're. hungry cold fever or whatever um by God. eat something or drink something um you.

definitely need to stay hydrated even if. you're not hungry there are plenty of. ways to get you know nutrients and. liquid into you right and the reason. that your metabolism would jack up when. you have a fever is because your body's. literally raising your core temperature. to try to cook out the virus that's got. you in its grips yeah pretty neat fevers. are no fun but I love when I when I'm. sick and I get a fever and the fever. happens I'm like okay like this is my. body doing its thing so I feel good.

about it yeah uh yeah it is kind of. weird it's like a almost giving it like. a grudging salute like way to go body. exactly it didn't feel great but uh oh. there's no better feeling than like. breaking that fever you know oh for sure. the worst is when the fever comes on in. the morning and you've got fever All. Through the. Night Fever is that okay so just want to. make sure that wasn't an accident you. said um can you imagine the coincidence. like what would the odds be of them I. don't know it' make you a natural s.

songwriter I guess um so you said that. you want to drink especially if like you. can't eat solid foods at least try to. drink things that have calories like a a. sports drink with electrolytes um like. they had in. Idiocracy um and or like thin broths. like a chicken broth can have a bunch of. calories in it even vegetable broths. have some calories so you want to get it. wherever you can the key here is this. even if you don't want to eat at all. that's okay like most people especially.

in the developed world aren't on the. edge of nutrition we all have some. reserves that can last us the few days. we're not hungry while we're sick what. we don't have is a reserve enough of. fluids to keep us going for very long so. you have to it's not a choice you have. to stay hydrated one way or another yeah. that same article from gentleman's. Magazine from way back when uh suggested. some other things of the time uh barley. water which sounds not too bad mhm uh. small beer.

mhm one of those you ever seen those. little little little baby beers they're. like 8 oers or whatever well yeah I. looked that up that was so they call. that for um low alcohol beer like I. guess session beers basically would be a. small beer right oh well I don't know. but that makes sense small beer yeah. small beer we called uh me and my. friends Eddie and Allison called those. tiny beers uh queets I don't know one of. I think Alison made up the word and uh. it just kind of stuck and the the fun. thing about drinking those is you look.

like Andre the Giant yeah yes I know. exactly what you mean I love doing that. too uh what else Apple water linseed tea. uh toast in water that may be the toast. in water remember that M I'm pretty sure. that's what it is I bet it is water GRL. sweetened with. honey yeah um so I looked all over to. see if anybody had conducted a study on. whether this was true or not and thank. God our friends over in the Netherlands. did in 2002.

uh a group of Dutch researchers. conducted a study and um they wanted to. see whether feeding or calorie. restriction um has any effect on whether. you have a cold or a fever or anything. like that and what's astounding is that. they found that it actually does have an. effect like on your um on on the level. of your immune system with the types of. cells that are produced that's right uh. they starved well I guess fasted same. thing sure uh for both groups for 24.

hours and then the cold feeders they. gave a meal replacement drink so not hot. food in this case yeah um and so after. they had this you know sustenance I. guess uh their blood levels of an immune. protein called interferon gamma went. really really Skyhigh average increase. of. 450% and interferon plays a role in uh. regulating our response to infections in. our immune system so you would think. like hey eating is like exactly what you.

want to do right and then kind of as. expected the other group the group that. had to fast there interfer on gamma. levels actually went down by about 83%. so they lost some robustness to their. immune response because they weren't. eating so so far you're kind of like all. right this this makes sense for sure the. surprise came with a different kind of. immune cell called interlukin 4 which. they found actually Rose in the group. that was found fasting Yeah by an.

average of almost 400% uh compared to. the 450 for the other and I think there. was one patient whose fasting levels. Rose more than. 1,00% wow and this is also uh an. important part of your IM uh our immune. response but it's different kinds of. immune responses so if you're thinking. like um well hey if I starve myself then. this one's going to go up like you don't. know which cells you need so it's not a. uh it's not sort of.

a roulette game you should try and play. by starving yourself no for sure that. interfere on that helps produce. antibodies like for specifically. targeted to an infection and the. interlukin uses our bodies like innate. response like sicking cyto keines that. you normally have laying around in your. body on it so yeah you can't game the. whole thing so the that's why doctors. across pretty much the board say if. you're sick and you feel like you can. eat like you're hungry eat something for. sure yeah cuz what you want is a little.

bit of both and ideally more of both but. not a whole lot of one and a lot less of. the other well put especially when. people rewind and listen a couple times. I hope so uh well Chuck said he h hope. so which means everybody's short stuff. is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts my heart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite show know.

[Music].