Brendan Cerk, MD, is a post-doctoral fellow in the Division of Rheumatology of the Department of Medicine, the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, and Los Angeles County + University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical Center.
Richard S. Panush, MD, MACP, MACR, is a professor in the Division of Rheumatology of the Department of Medicine, the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, and Los Angeles County + University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical Center.
Apocryphal Remedy—Chicken Soup—Shown to Have a Scientific Basis
One study suggests that chicken soup may contain a number of substances with beneficial medicinal activity. A mild anti-inflammatory effect could be one mechanism by which the soup could result in the mitigation of symptomatic upper respiratory tract infections.
- Rennard BO, Ertl RF, Gossman GL, et al. Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro. Chest. 2000 Oct;118(4):1150–1157.
- Bender BS. Barbara, what’s a nice girl like you doing writing an article like this?: The scientific basis of folk remedies for colds and flu. Chest. 2000 Oct;118(4):887–888.
Late-breaking news
RA risk reduced by mediterranean diet
Authors’ note: While this was article was in press, a study was published suggesting that adherence to the Mediterranean diet could reduce the risk of developing RA among ever-smoking women: Nguyen Y, Salliot C, Gelot A, et al. Mediterranean diet and risk of rheumatoid arthritis: Findings from the French E3N-EPIC cohort study. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Jan;73(1):69–77. doi: 10.1002/art.41487. Epub 2020 Dec 3. PMID: 32909390.
This doesn’t significantly change our perspectives. And we intentionally considered that discussion of dietary supplements and herbal remedies were beyond the scope of our article.
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