APAD: Feed a cold, starve a fever

"Feed a cold, starve a fever" is an adage or an old wives' tale which attempts to instruct people how to deal with illness. The adage dates to the time of Hippocrates when fever was not well understood. His idea was the fever was the disease, and starving the sick person would starve the disease.

In 1574, John Withals published "Fasting is a great remedie of feuer" in a dictionary. The adage states that eating will help cure a cold; not eating will help cure a fever. In 2002 a small-scale study testing the accuracy of the adage concluded that different foods can provoke an immune system response in patients.

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