Chicken soup for your health

Long called Jewish penicillin, chicken soup's power to heal has mainly been viewed as folklore but recent scientific studies have proven that it has genuine health benefits, so much so that research doctors in Israel have asked the World Health Organization to add it to the List of Essential Drugs for Infections.

Forget pills, sprays and prescriptions. What you really need is hot chicken soup.

Around the 12th century, healers started to prescribe " the broth of fowl" for their ill patients. Egyptian Jewish physician and philosopher Rabbi Moses Maimonides started to write extensively about the benefits of chicken soup. He used this fowl brew to treat such things as constipation, hemorrhoids and even leprosy but he especially praised its healing power for respiratory illnesses.

In the 1990s, Dr. Stephen Renard at the University of Nebraska wanted to test his mother-in-law's theory that chicken soup is good for colds.

He conducted many tests, using a recipe he titled "Grandma's Soup." The results demonstrated that chicken soup is a good anti-inflammatory. Current researchers agree that chicken soup breaks up congestion and eases the flow of nasal secretions. And many say it inhibits the white blood cells that trigger the inflammatory response causing sore throats and the production of phlegm. Chicken soup also contains a sulfur compound called cystine, which protects against infections of the throat, sinuses and chest.

Here are two recipes, one Eastern, and one Western, for this magic elixir.

Remember, no matter its provenance, it must be served hot. Soup from cans, boxes or packets has been proven to be less beneficial. So, if you are starting to feel ill, quickly run out to the market and grab yourself a chicken or call your nearest and dearest, then whine and moan and, hopefully, they'll bring over the soup.