This is part two of a series on chicken soup. Read part one here.
Rectifies corrupted humours and melancholy?
✔ Check.
Beneficial against leprosy?
✔ Check.
Aids in convalescence from illness?
✔ Check.
Well, it seems that the 12th-century Jewish scholar and physician Maimonides and your bubbie have something in common: they both understood the healing powers of chicken soup. (OK, maybe your bubbie never pushed the leprosy part.)
It has long been suggested that the so-called Jewish penicillin has actual medicinal benefits beyond the TLC with which it is served. How far back do the curative powers go? According to drugs.com, “therapeutic observations were recorded as far back as 60 AD by Pedacius Dioscorides, an army surgeon under the emperor Nero. He was responsible for the book De Materia Medica, which, among other natural science knowledge, discusses chicken soup.”
As for the approbation of a doctor who had a Jewish bubbie, that would have to wait several centuries. Maimonides advised that chicken soup also works on hemorrhoids, constipation, leprosy and respiratory illnesses like the common cold. “The meat taken should be that of hens or roosters, and their broth should also be taken because this sort of fowl has virtue in rectifying corrupted humours.”
In Medicine in the Bible and the Talmud, Dr. Fred Rosner discovered this medicinal/cooking advice in Maimonides’ writings: The chicken or pullet can be boiled or stewed or steamed, or boiled with fresh coriander or with some green fennel added to the soup. This dish is especially suitable in winter. The soup, however, where lemon juice or citron juice or lemon slices are added to the broth, is better suited for summertime.
Scientific literature remained mum on the topic until a groundbreaking (and tongue-in-cheek) 1975 article appeared in the respected and usually austere medical journal, Chest. Titled “Chicken Soup Rebound and Relapse of Pneumonia: Report of a Case,” it documents the sad story of a patient who decided to discontinue self-treatment with the golden elixir only to find himself suffering from severe pneumonia requiring management with penicillin.
Authors Nancy L. Caroline, MD, and Harold Schwartz, MD, wrote, “Preliminary investigation into the pharmacology of chicken soup (Bohbymycetin®) has shown that it is readily absorbed after oral administration, achieving peak serum levels in two hours and persisting in detectable levels for up to 24 hours.” As for possible dangers from the steaming beverage: “Untoward side effects are minimal, consisting primarily of mild euphoria which rapidly remits on discontinuation of the agent.” (Even if you have no medical background, I highly recommend reading this amusing two-page study.)
It wasn’t until a quarter-century later that the same journal published an authentic study about the efficacy of chicken soup. In 2000, Dr. Stephen Rennard began investigating the elixir for amusement value. Then the pulmonary specialist at the University of Nebraska’s medical centre realized that soup could have genuine value. He theorized if soup can stop or reduce inflammation of the upper tract common in colds, it might reduce the symptoms of a cold. (Rennard conducted his tests in vitro. We still await the definitive test of human subjects on a soup regimen.)
As reported by CNN, Dr. Rennard “found that chicken soup and many of its ingredients helped stop the movement of neutrophils – white blood cells that eat up bacteria and cellular debris and are released in great numbers by viral infections like colds.”
After administering some of his wife’s grandma’s chicken soup, along with various store-bought soups, he found that ALL soups were equally effective in reducing inflammation. This site combines medical research and photos of the Rennard family in the kitchen along with the recipe for Rennard’s grandma’s soup.
The CBC Television consumer program Martketplace also investigated chicken soup’s possible medicinal value. They interviewed Dr. Rennard along with contagious disease specialist Dr. Allison McGeer, who said there is no scientific evidence to back the healing powers of chicken soup.
Two believers are Abraham Ohry, MD, and Jenni Tsafrir, PhD. The Israeli researchers asked the World Health Organization to declare chicken soup an “essential drug.” Ohry and Tsafrir’s rationale: “We feel certain that, despite the absence of significantly statistical evidence from scientific studies, chicken soup is here to stay as part of the armamentarium of traditional effective remedies. In answer to the question, whether it be a drug or not, chicken soup is… essential.”
Still a skeptic? I’ll leave the last word to the true experts in the field (aside from bubbie), Ben’s Deli of New York City: “We Cure Our Own Corned Beef; Our Chicken Soup Cures Everything Else.”