The rains are here. Good news, right? Yes; but not-so-good news too. While bringing bountiful harvest and cold weather that drives away heat, we also are visited with flooding, catarrh and cold.
Even as many people are already stocking up on sweaters and other medicaments to prevent or fight off these ailments, there is the need to be painstaking about what we eat.
The ‘common’ cold is an upper respiratory infection caused by many different viruses. Experts have revealed that these viral particles penetrate the mucous layer of the nose and throat to cause cold.
To combat or prevent the multiplication of these viruses, our food menu should consist of rations that have anti-oxidant and anti-microbial properties to help fight infections from viruses.
“There is also the need to include foods with immune-stimulating properties that may give slight relief from congestion as well as antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties which help to boost the immune system and prevent cold and its symptoms,” explains Dr. Taiwo Adedigba, a medical practitioner.
Another respondent, Babatunde Ilesanmi, explained the traditional way his family treated cold.
“I could remember that the first thing my mother does if I have cold and catarrh is to rub shea butter (ori in Yoruba, okwuma in Igbo) on my body before preparing fish pepper soup with enough spices, especially ariwo (calabash nutmeg) and ginger,” the disc jockey recalled.
For some people, chicken soup does the magic. This is a soup simply made from chicken, simmered in water, usually with various other ingredients; root vegetables like yam and sweet potato, as well as herbs and spices such as basil and garlic cloves.
This ‘comfort food’ is nourishing and hydrating, with healing and mild anti-inflammatory effects which can be attributed to the combination of all the healthy vegetables that soothe the symptoms.
“Hot chicken soup can improve the ability of cilia, the tiny hair-like parts of the nasal passages, to protect the body from bacteria and viruses. It provides the fluids needed to help fight off viruses as well as reduce the inflammation that triggers symptoms and lead to more colds,” explained Dr. Adedigba.
The place of the ‘super’ spices, ginger and garlic cannot be overstressed in fighting cold. According to Mabel Idiagbonya, a nutritionist, ginger is a home remedy often used to decongest and soothe cold and its symptoms.
“Ginger contains chemicals called sesquiterpenes that specifically target rhinoviruses, the most common family of cold viruses, as well as substances that suppress coughing,” Adedigba explained.
Ginger can be used, grated fresh or in powdered form. It can be added to other foods, eaten raw or steeped and taken as tea with lemon juice and honey.
Due to its immune-boosting and antiviral effects, garlic is very useful for fighting off infectious disease. So spicing your soup or eating a clove or two of fresh garlic a day may indeed keep the doctor away.
Honey is another supplement that is a great cold-friendly sore throat reliever because it coats the throat when you drink it mixed in hot tea or warm lemon water.
Idiagbonya warned that honey should not be given to children under one year of age, as their immune systems are not developed enough to ward off infantile botulism carried in honey pores.
Fortunately, citrus fruits, which provide plenty of the needed Vitamin C with its anti-oxidant property, are in abundance in markets; so take a lot of them. Adedigba revealed that taking the vitamin at the first sign of illness may reduce a cold’s duration by about a day.
According to Adedigba, drinking a moderate amount of red wine can help develop a kind of immunity against the viruses that trigger cold.
“Red wine contains resveratrol and polyphenol compounds that prevent multiplication of the cold virus in the body system,” he explained.
Irrespective of which catches our fancy, it is pertinent to adopt a lifestyle that will prevent us from getting cold and catarrh.
