Guest guest Posted January 11, 2002 Report Share Posted January 11, 2002 'Old wives' tale' on colds may be right Dutch scientists have found truth in the old saying " feed a cold, starve a fever " . They found that eating a meal produces exactly the right type of immune response that destroys cold viruses. Fasting stimulates a different kind of immune response which tackles the bacteria responsible for most fevers. The findings surprised Gijs van den Brink of the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. He asked six volunteers to fast overnight on two separate occasions and then come in for lab tests. On one occasion he gave them a liquid meal and on the other just water. He says six hours after the meal body levels of gamma interferon, which indicates an immune response against viral infections, had more than quadrupled. After the water these levels fell slightly while interleukin-4, which indicates a response to a bacterial infection, nearly quadrupled. Mr Van den Bink said: " To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a direct effect has been demonstrated. " The paper was published in the journal Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology and reported in New Scientist. Story filed: 12:19 Friday 11th January 2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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