Nov 23, 2006 11:46 pm US/Mountain
Special Chicken Soup Recipe Used To Fight Flu
(CBS4)
Homemade chicken soup has been making people feel better since the 12th century which is probably why your grandmother made it for you.
It's been scientifically studied as a germ fighter and the research has been published in several respected medical journals.
Studies have shown that a grandmother's original chicken soup recipe worked wonders at relieving cold symptoms.
The hot chicken broth will unclog a plugged nose but it's the ingredients in the broth that chemically work to keep you from coughing and help thin out a thick head.
The vegetables used are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants which will help make you feel better. The onions and celery are especially good at soothing a sore throat.
The chicken contains amino acids which work to loosen mucus and shrink congested airways in the head and the lungs.
In fact, one of the amino acids is called cysteine, a chemical cousin to acetocysteine. It's a powerful drug that doctors use in the hospital to treat pneumonia patients.
Research shows even if the soup is diluted 200 times, it still packs a punch within 30 minutes of your first dose.
It's the slow cooking of the meat that makes the broth a powerful medicine.
* * *Chicken soup recipe from Dr. Stephen Rennard, Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center:
1 5 lb chicken
3 large onions
1 large sweet potato
3 parsnips
2 turnips
12 large carrots
6 celery stalks
1 bunch parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Clean chicken, put in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil.
Add onions, sweet potato, parsnips, turnips and carrots.
Boil for 1.5 hours. Skim fat off as develops.
Add parsley, celery and cook an additional 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken, put vegetables in a food processor, chop until very fine and add back into broth. Serve.
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