# Feed a cold, starve a fever.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674 "2001-06-21T18:58:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674/1 "2001-06-21T18:58:04Z")

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A real bit of medical advice or old wives tale? If it is true then how so?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674/2 "2001-06-21T19:58:05Z")

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People thought that food, acting like a fuel, would heat up the body when consumed. Therefore, if you had cold and needed heating up, consume more food. Likewise, if you had a fever, reducing the fuel would cool you off.

Since colds and fevers don’t work like that, it’s not particularly useful medical advice.

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**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674/3 "2001-06-21T20:50:31Z")

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I don’t know about Grandma’s advice, but I rely on the **Spritle** axiom:

Feed a cold, feed a fever. :D:D

Perhaps this is why I’m a bit “thick in the middle”…

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**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674/4 "2001-06-21T22:37:29Z")

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I swear. Sometime one just wants to cry.

This message board has a sponsor. The sponsor is the distributor of an alternative newspaper columnist who, from time to time, answers questions of just this sort. The column itself has a pretty catchy name.

You might want to check it out. As an example of what you’re missing, here’s a guy named **Cecil Adams** with the, uh, Straight Dope on the subject of [Is it “feed a cold, starve a fever” or vice versa? And should you?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_154b.html)

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**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feed-a-cold-starve-a-fever/69674/5 "2001-06-22T06:44:48Z")

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Hey, **manhattan** , do you think he knows anything about words ending in -gry?  
\<d&r\>