Got a cold? "Drink lots of fluids." Really?! Why?

I’ve heard this advice given for as long as I can remember and I have no idea where it came from. Is there any medical legitimacy to the claims that lots of fluids will somehow lessen the severity and/or duration of a cold? If so, what is it exactly? The only thing even remotely beneficial I’ve been able to find that is explicitly attributed to fluids is a thinning of the mucus; which can make it easier to cough up.

To me, this just sounds like bs medical “lip-service” when there is really nothing that could be legitimately recommended to treat a cold, other than time and rest, but they feel pressured into saying something and extra fluids are harmless (plus it’s always good to be hydrated). I may be wrong though, which is why my question is here.

Certainly the logic is as simple as that viral infections may be associated both with fever and decreased appetite: using up fluids evaporating off the skin and calories with the fever while taking less in. Increased fluids may help with both.

But the evidence is lacking.

I know when I’m really congested with a cold that I mouth breathe a lot and am blowing my nose a lot so I get pretty dehydrated and my mouth a throat feels gross. If I keep up fluids my nose clears easier (more fluid so blows easier) and I don’t get really bad headaches from bring dehydrated. It just makes me feel better.

When you have a cold you produce lots of mucus, which I imagine must deplete your body’s water reserves. So, you need to drink more water to replenish them.

Dubious. Show me studies.

ETA: To be clear, im not saying that having a cold may not necessitate a slight increase in fluid intake but that increased fluid intake has a positive effect on a cold.

Here’s a study:

http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/article.aspx?articleid=1683608

Abstract:

Ok, yeah that seems to say what i mentioned in the OP; that fluids (hot fluids especially) can make mucus thinner and easier to cough up. But you don’t hear “drink hot beverages”, you typically hear “increase your clear liquids”, which it seems wouldn’t have much of a “thinning” effect on mucus.

There aren’t any.* People tend not to pay for studies to find free home remedies effective.

Don’t want to drink? Don’t drink. Just keep an eye on your skin turgor and tear and saliva production. If you get thirsty, drink.

I do tend to tell most people (not those on fluid restriction, obviously) to eat brothy soup and drink fluids, particularly hot ones, like lemon and honey with the tea of their choice, primarily because it tends to make people feel better to “do something.” Really, I could tell them to sacrifice a rooster at the crossroads, and it would make them feel better to be doing something. Because I’m a nurse, I’m supposed to be tending to their emotional and psychological needs as well as their physical ones.

Because I am also expected to practice evidence based medicine, I don’t tell them it will *cure *their cold. Indeed, I usually say something like, “Well, you know what they say…treat a cold and it will last 7 days, leave it be and it will last a week. But do get some rest, and many people find that warm liquids make them feel better. Chicken soup and Hot Toddies for you, m’dear!”

*Okay, **IvoryTowerDenizen **found one. From 1978. With 15 subjects. Not exactly an overwhelming landslide of evidence. But it does bear out what most of us have experienced, even if no one’s done a lot of study of it: hot fluids get your nose running faster and may, very temporarily, make you feel better.

Thanks Whynot. That was basically my take on the matter.

I think there’s a risk of dehydration when people have colds, because sore throats and coughs may cause some people not to drink.

Anecdotal, but staying hydrated for me seems important in keeping me from feeling worse in the mornings.

Fever and diarrhea cause loss of fluids, so it’s important to drink lots of fluids to prevent dehydration.

Diarrhea? Like “diarrhea of the nose” or something?

What’s a “diarrhea of the nose”?
:confused:

Bingo. Plus you lose salts. So chicken soup with salt. You do not want to get dehydrated and have your electrolytes go awry as that can cause heart problems. I once had a case legal where a guy with a minor heart problem got food poisoning from chicken and was “losing liquids” without sufficient replenishment and he died of a heart attack caused by dehydration while on an airplane.

It was a joke. I was confused as to why diarrhea was being introduced into a discussion about the common cold.

Rhinorrhea. The 'rrhea suffix is all about flow, be it out your ass, nose, or vagina (menorrhea).

Have a drink.

I always figured the bit about drinking fluids was to replenish what you lost when dripping and sneezing, seeing as how being even mildly dehydrated would tend to make you feel lousier. And if someone is fussing over you brinking you a drink or hot soup, the sense of being cared for probably has a nice placebo effect.

Actually, there are numerous studies on home remedies (whether cheap or free)…not just fluids for cold sufferers, but on everything from ear candling to gall bladder “flushes” to chicken soup. Pub Med searches are good for finding them.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, isn’t it?

There is also a very practical reason that health care providers suggest stuff like this. It gives us something harmless to suggest for people to actively do which can possibly help stave them off from doing things that have more potential to cause harm or have costs.

Chicken soup? May help. Sure feels like it does. Minimally they need to eat and drink anyway and it reminds us being taken care of as kids. (Secret is the soup has to made with love.) And it beats putting people on unneeded antibiotics or advising them to use over the counter cold remedies which generally don’t work and which actually have some potential for harm.

Isn’t that what **Whynot **said so eloquently in #8?