Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DeusXM Why is it that whenever I get a cold, I get really hungry and seem to need to eat much more frequently? Usually when I'm ill, the last thing I want to do is eat, but colds seem to be different. |
I dunno... maybe you just need more fuel to fight whatever virus is causing the cold than a bacterial infection that makes you feel a different kind of 'ill'. The 'feed a cold, starve a fever' has long been rejected by the medical community, but a group of scientists did a teeny weeny tiny study on 6 volunteers a few years ago and in these people they found that eating a meal boosted the immune response directed at viruses (the level of gamma interferon increased), which are responsible for colds, while fasting stimulated the immune response directed at bacterial infections (the level of interleukin-4 increased), which are responsible for fevers. A 6-person study is nothing to draw conclusions from, but it's possible this is what is happening in the average human - maybe your body just knows that eating/fasting has these effects and kicks you into action? Though they break down and give us grief, our bodies are pretty amazing machines.
