What should I eat for a cold？ Besides drugs, these can help you.
In the cold winter, if you are not careful, the "cold" will come to visit. For influenza, the effect of taking medicine on shortening the course of disease seems to be not obvious, and many drugs can only relieve symptoms. Many people want to cure colds through diet conditioning. Below, let’s talk about what we should pay attention to when we have a cold, and what statements are scientifically proven.
chicken soup; inspirational nonsense
Light chicken soup can help relieve colds.
When I was a child, my mother told me that "I can’t drink chicken soup when I have a cold", and chicken soup will make my condition worse. It wasn’t until I grew up that I could understand the scientific literature that I found that there were related studies that confirmed that chicken soup could relieve flu symptoms in the chest and head during a cold, inhibit inflammation and excessive mucus production in the human body, help reduce nasal congestion and sore throat, and reduce the number of coughs. Studies have shown that chicken soup can promote the production of interferon, which is helpful to resist cold virus.
Although only a small part of protein in chicken enters chicken soup when cooking soup, soluble nitrogen-containing substances such as amino acids, small peptides, creatine, carnitine, inositol and so on are dissolved out, which are easy to digest and absorb and will not increase the burden on human body. Among them, potassium and various B vitamins in chicken were also dissolved. Besides, hot soup can improve the blood circulation of the nasopharynx, relieve nasal congestion, relieve sore throat, and help your body replenish a lot of water.
It seems that there is no need to worry about missing chicken soup when you have a cold. If you add a small amount of spices and vegetables such as white radish slices, carrot slices, pepper, chopped celery and chopped coriander, and add some phytochemicals, you can also make chicken soup have a better effect in fighting colds.
However, it must be noted that chicken soup should be light and try not to put salt or less salt. Too much salt will do the opposite. In addition, excess fat does not help, you can skim off the oil on the surface before drinking.
milk
Drinking milk with a cold will aggravate the symptoms of runny nose and expectoration
Many people think that milk is nutritious. Drinking a cup of hot milk full of milky fragrance when you have a cold can also make you have a good sleep and relieve your illness. However, many studies have proved that drinking milk will aggravate some cold symptoms, especially for cold patients with runny nose and excessive phlegm.
The research team of Lister Hospital in Hertfordshire, England, conducted experiments on patients with increased mucus secretion in the respiratory tract due to a cold. From the third day to the sixth day, half of the people drink 350 ml of whole milk every day, and the rest drink 350 ml of soy milk. Flavoring ingredients are added to both milk and soy milk, so participants can’t tell whether they are drinking milk or soy milk. Patients record their symptoms every day and score the degree of mucus secretion in the respiratory tract. The results showed that the mucus level of all participants decreased in the first two days, but in the next four days, the mucus level of those who drank soy milk continued to decrease, and the symptoms of runny nose and expectoration of those who drank milk increased significantly.
Adam Flosh, an otolaryngologist at Lister Hospital and a participant in the study, explained that A1&beta contained in milk; -Casein can activate the expression of protein, which regulates mucus production, and increase mucus in nasal cavity and throat, thus aggravating cold symptoms.
However, you can drink yogurt during a cold, provided that you drink yogurt containing live bacteria. According to a study published in the journal International Immunopharmacology, yogurt containing live bacteria can not only help relieve sore throat, but also strengthen your immune system.
Therefore, if you have serious cold symptoms, you should consider drinking less milk and a little yogurt, and you can also choose soy milk or soy milk to replace the nutrition of milk for the time being.
hot water
You should pay attention to drinking a small amount of water many times when you have a cold.
Drinking more water is also one of the "cold tips" that I have heard since I was a child. Many people are tired of the cliche "Have a cup of hot water". However, drinking more water actually makes sense.
Drinking more water can accelerate metabolism, increase urine volume and accelerate the discharge of metabolic waste; Drinking more water can increase the evaporation of sweat, increase the excretion and heat dissipation of urine, lower the body temperature, and help relieve fever symptoms; Drinking more water can supplement the water consumption caused by vomiting, diarrhea and fever, or the lack of liquid caused by eating less, which is conducive to physical recovery; Drinking plenty of water can keep the oral and nasal mucosa moist and relieve the discomfort caused by a cold.
Therefore, keep your body hydrated when you have a cold. Drinking a small amount of water many times can not only keep the balance of body electrolytes, but also not burden the kidneys.
If drinking white water really doesn’t taste anything, it is also good to drink warm light black tea, light lemonade, very light hot soup, thin millet porridge soup, etc. as a source of water supplement.
Many foreign articles recommend that people with colds often take small borneol, which can ensure that they don’t drink a lot of water every time and can replenish water slowly and continuously. However, it is also good to carry a thermos cup with you and sip hot soup and hot water from time to time.
garlic
Garlic extract can enhance immune cell function.
Relieve a cold
Garlic can kill bacteria and prevent diseases, which is almost accepted by people in both East and West. For thousands of years, garlic has often been used as a "substitute medicine" for many diseases.
A study by the University of Florida found that after taking garlic supplements to adult flu patients, the severity of flu symptoms, the number of days of illness and the incidence of colds and flu decreased. Researchers believe that this may be because garlic extract can enhance the function of immune cells and reduce the severity of colds.
If you don’t want to take supplements, eating garlic raw will also be beneficial. In addition to garlic, onions, onions, etc. also contain sulfur-containing compounds similar to garlic, so some people want to eat onion dipping sauce … … As long as you eat happily, it’s ok.
vitamin C
Fresh fruits and vegetables
It is beneficial to fight and prevent colds.
Taking a few tablets of vitamin C is a routine operation for many people, but some studies have said that vitamin C can’t prevent colds at all.
In this regard, the advice given by the Department of Health and Human Services of the National Institutes of Health is that for most people, taking vitamin C regularly can only slightly shorten the time of catching a cold and reduce the severity of the cold, but can not reduce the number of colds.
However, Nahas and others, the medical director of the University of Ottawa Comprehensive Medical Center in Ontario, Canada, recommended vitamin C supplements to prevent the common cold according to the conclusions drawn from systematic review research.
One of the reasons why the research results are so inconsistent may be that the physical condition and nutritional status of the subjects are different. Virus infection is a kind of stress. In order to support the immune system and stress response, the body really needs to consume more vitamin C.
Some people have enough vitamin c reserves in their bodies, and may not need a lot of extra supplements; However, others may have insufficient reserves, or insufficient daily intake, or they may suffer from stress and fatigue, so it may be beneficial to supplement some vitamin C.
Although the scientific community has not reached an agreement on taking a lot of vitamin C supplements to prevent colds, it is still a reliable advice to increase the intake of natural foods rich in vitamin C. Fresh vegetables and fruits are not only rich in vitamin C, but also contain other antioxidant substances, which are beneficial to enhancing immunity and fighting and preventing colds.
Therefore, if you can still eat when you have a cold, you can give priority to eating some fresh fruits and vegetables. If you can’t eat vegetables, you can also drink some homemade fresh fruit and vegetable pulp, make some soup with pure tomato sauce, drink some water soaked in fresh lemon slices and dig some kiwi fruit pulp, at least it will help.
probiotics
Must have enough viable bacteria to play a role.
West china hospital conducted a study and analyzed 14 randomized controlled trials to compare the effects of probiotics and placebo in preventing acute upper respiratory tract infection. The results show that probiotics can enhance the resistance of human body to influenza virus. Probiotic products are better than placebos in reducing the number of acute upper respiratory tract infections, the incidence of acute upper respiratory tract infections and the use of antibiotics.
Bifidobacterium is one of the main components of intestinal beneficial flora, which can enhance the resistance of human body to harmful microorganisms by regulating the intestinal immune system, and also shows the resistance potential against influenza virus. In the experiment, after taking Bifidobacterium longum orally in mice infected with influenza, the clinical symptoms were improved, the mortality rate was reduced, the inflammation of lower respiratory tract was inhibited, the virus titer and the level of proinflammatory cytokines were reduced, and the cell death was reduced. Scholars believe that Bifidobacterium longum has the potential to become a probiotic to prevent influenza.
Some studies have also found that the prevalence of influenza has decreased after students continue to drink probiotic drinks containing Lactobacillus brevis. For children who have not been vaccinated against influenza, the effect is more obvious. In children aged 3-5 years with cold symptoms, the probiotic drink can be supplemented daily, and obvious benefits can be found after 6 months, including reduced incidence of fever, runny nose and cough symptoms, shortened duration of these symptoms, and decreased frequency of antibiotic prescription. Researchers believe that oral lactic acid bacteria may prevent influenza virus infection by stimulating and enhancing local immune response in intestine and respiratory tract and strengthening systemic immune response.
What needs to be understood is that not every probiotic drink has the same effect, and it is limited to certain strains with research reports. At the same time, probiotic supplements must have enough live bacteria, otherwise they will not work.
Zinc and selenium
Dietary zinc and selenium supplements are good for relieving colds.
Zinc is a necessary factor for the normal activities of many protein’s and enzymes in human body, which not only affects the function of immune system, but also has great significance for the recovery of tissue repair after illness. Foods rich in zinc include shellfish, shrimps, crabs, fish and other aquatic products, lean meat, viscera of animals such as liver, kidney and heart, and nuts and oilseeds such as sesame seeds, pine nuts and sunflower seeds.
The benefits of dietary selenium supplementation in relieving colds have also been recognized by some studies, especially for influenza A virus. The amount of selenium in food is mainly related to the growing environment of food, and the food produced in selenium-rich areas contains higher selenium. In the products of the same region, the selenium content of animal foods usually exceeds that of plant foods.
VD
Whether it can prevent respiratory viruses is still controversial.
People are easy to catch a cold in winter and suffer from other infectious diseases. Is it related to the decrease of vitamin D level caused by insufficient sunlight? This theory is concerned by many people, and it is found that vitamin D is related to thousands of gene functions.
However, it is still controversial whether vitamin D supplementation can prevent respiratory viruses. Some studies have found that taking vitamin D is beneficial to prevent influenza, while others have concluded that supplementing it has not achieved effective results.
It must be understood that what we are discussing here is whether vitamin D has a preventive effect, not whether it has a therapeutic effect. Therefore, whether prevention is effective or not, it is meaningless to take vitamin D capsules after catching a cold.
Finally, I’ll give you some advice to prevent colds:
1. The daily diet is reasonable, eat enough fruits and vegetables and protein, and ensure adequate micronutrients.
2. Exercise moderately, preferably often in the sun.
Step 3 get enough sleep
4. Avoid excessive fatigue and stress
These practices will make our immune system stronger and less likely to catch a cold than others.
Once you have a cold, what you need to do is:
Step 1 don’t eat greasy food
2. Don’t eat sweets and sweet drinks, they are harmful to the work of immune system.
3. Drink more hot water and other soups with less salt, less sugar and less oil.
4. If you don’t drink milk for the time being, you can switch to soy milk or yogurt.
5. eat fruits and vegetables to supplement vitamin c and antioxidants. if you can’t eat raw food, you can steam it and cook it, or juice it and soak it in water.
6. If you like raw onions and garlic, you can eat them normally.
7. Although vitamin C may not prevent colds, if there are too few fruits and vegetables in daily life and you can’t make your own food when you fall ill, it is ok to supplement them appropriately.
Text/Wu Jia Science Director/Fan Zhihong (Director of China Nutrition Society)