Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scientific research shows that ‘feed a cold, starve a fever’ adage could be true

"Feed a cold and starve a fever" might have an element of truth, say scientists (Martin Keene/PA Wire)
"Feed a cold and starve a fever" might have an element of truth, say scientists (Martin Keene/PA Wire)

GRANNIE’S advice to “feed a cold and starve a fever” might have an element of truth, say scientists.

New research shows that the old adage appears to be based on sound science when a fever is caused by bacterial infection.

Scientists put the folk wisdom to the test using laboratory mice with bacterial and viral infections.

They found that mice with flu – like the common cold, caused by a virus – were helped to recover and survive when they were fed. In contrast, feeding animals infected by bacteria only hastened their death.

Lead researcher Professor Ruslan Medzhitov, from the Yale School of Medicine in the US, said: “We were surprised at how profound the effects of feeding were, both positive and negative.

“Anorexia – not eating – is a common behaviour during sickness that is seen in people and all kinds of animals. Our findings show that it has a strong protective effect with certain infections, but not with others.”

In the first of a series of experiments, mice were infected with Listeria bacteria – a common cause of food poisoning.

The animals stopped eating naturally, and eventually recovered. However, when they were made to eat, they died.

Sugary food was the culprit, the researchers discovered – the mice survived when they were fed protein and fats but no glucose.

A similar study of mice infected with the flu virus showed an opposite effect. In this case, the mice lived when they were force-fed glucose, but died when they were denied food.

Giving the animals a drug called 2-DG, which prevents glucose metabolism, saved the Listeria-infected mice but proved fatal to those with flu.

Further research indicated that the different outcomes related to an interplay between metabolism and the immune system.

“Almost everything we know about infection is based on immune response studies and looking at how the immune system eliminates pathogens (harmful agents),” said Prof Medzhitov. “But that’s not the only way we defend ourselves. There are also cases where we change and adapt so that microbes don’t cause harm.

“Our study manipulated the ability of these mice to tolerate and survive infection without doing anything that had an effect on the pathogens themselves.”

His team is now looking at how changes in sleep behaviour during illness influence the way the immune system fights infection.

The researchers also want to investigate why people sometimes display food cravings when they are sick.

The new findings, published in the journal Cell, have implications for the design of clinical trials evaluating the benefits of nutrition to patients with sepsis, say the scientists.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by a response to infection that damages the body’s tissues and organs.

Prof Medzhitov added: “Sepsis is a critical problem in hospital ICUs (Intensive Care Units) that defies most modern medical approaches. A number of studies have looked at nutrition in patients with sepsis, and the results have been mixed. But these studies didn’t segregate patients based on whether their sepsis was bacterial or viral.

“The implication is that patients should be stratified by the cause of their sepsis, and trials should be designed based on that.”


READ MORE

How to take the ache out of the little pains

Strange laws of sport: The obscure rules that could cost you