Someday, You Might Be Able to Eat Your Way Out of a Cold

[Alvin2]

In recent years, though, plenty of legit studies have confirmed that our diets really can affect our ability to fight off invaders—down to the fine-scale functioning of individual immune cells. Those studies belong to a new subfield of immunology sometimes referred to as immunometabolism. Researchers are still a long way off from being able to confidently recommend specific foods or dietary supplements for colds, flus, STIs, and other infectious illnesses. But someday, knowledge of how nutrients fuel the fight against disease could influence the way that infections are treated in hospitals, in clinics, and maybe at home—not just with antimicrobials and steroids but with dietary supplements, metabolic drugs, or whole foods.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science...ions-disease-food-nutrition-treatment/672920/

 

[Wishful]

Just a wild guess: the effects are measurable in a laboratory setting, giving actual numbers for papers and thus the much-desired citations, but for the average person, even taking the clinically-prescribed foods won't make a noticeable difference.

 

[Alvin2]

Just a wild guess: the effects are measurable in a laboratory setting, giving actual numbers for papers and thus the much-desired citations, but for the average person, even taking the clinically-prescribed foods won't make a noticeable difference.

Ironically one can make this argument for many supplements (outside ME/CFS) they prevent deficiency diseases but larger doses are rarely real world noticeable which is why we need modern medicine.
That said i would not be surprised if this turns out to be small potatoes. But i hope it may even help with ME/CFS, if it turns out some foods bypasses our energy production issues and make a real difference i will be most happy to consume them.

 

[Wishful]

If certain foods made a significant difference in cold duration, wouldn't it have been noticed by now? I just checked: even chicken soup doesn't seem to have statistical backing for reducing cold duration. It has "nutrients that are good for the immune system" which sounds suspiciously like the claim of this thread, but no statistical numbers showing that eating soup reduces cold duration by x hours.

I do expect health (product advertising) magazines will publish many articles on which foods to eat to make your cold "go away faster!!!!" ... with no statistical evidence back those claims.

 

[Alvin2]

If certain foods made a significant difference in cold duration, wouldn't it have been noticed by now? I just checked: even chicken soup doesn't seem to have statistical backing for reducing cold duration. It has "nutrients that are good for the immune system" which sounds suspiciously like the claim of this thread, but no statistical numbers showing that eating soup reduces cold duration by x hours.

Yes but sometimes things are missed because no one tried a specific combination or you need to adjust dosing. Or you need a combination.
For example the medication Sinemet (Levodopa-Carbidopa) is the standard of care for Parkinsons.
When it was first tried as monotherpay there were some encouraging results. Subsequent trials failed. It seemed to be worthless since results could not be replicated and many results showed no effect.
Turns out the Levodopa was being metabolized in the body so only a little bit was reaching the brain.
Combined with the Carbidopa that prevents metabolizing in the body (Carbidopa does not cross the blood brain barrier) all the Levodopa reaches the brain it is now the go to drug.

I would guess they will figure out that carbohydrates are not being used for energy but fat/proteins are. Hopefully they find the mechanism. Which fingers crossed will be the reason ME/CFS patients experience fatigue.
Heck there may be no foods that help the way they are envisioning but if they figure out the mechanism of why thats good enough for me.

I do expect health (product advertising) magazines will publish many articles on which foods to eat to make your cold "go away faster!!!!" ... with no statistical evidence back those claims.

Agreed on this one, easy answers and baldfaced lies are a dime a dozen.