What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Chicken Noodle Soup While Sick

Eating chicken noodle soup when you're sick with a cold or flu won't cure your ailments, but it can help support your body with hydration, nutrients, and mild, potentially anti-inflammatory and immune-supporting effects. These effects may help your body's healing process and reduce how long you're sick.

1. Sustained Hydration

You may have a reduced appetite when you're ill, making it difficult to take in the nutrients and fluids you need to recover. A serving of chicken noodle soup helps your body gain nutrients and fluids in a form it can easily process.

Warm chicken noodle soup is an easy-to-digest food that provides water and electrolytes such as sodium, magnesium, and potassium. These nutrients support hydration and help maintain electrolyte balance during fever or illness.

2. Faster Healing and Recovery

Chicken is an excellent source of lean, low-fat protein. Protein provides essential amino acids that support your immune system and are necessary for making antibodies, proteins that help defend your body against infection.

Adding vegetables to chicken noodle soup supports a healthy immune system in fighting infections. Typical ingredients—like carrots, celery, and onions—can provide vitamins like vitamin A, which helps regulate immune activity, and vitamin C, which can help decrease inflammation.

According to some research, eating chicken-based soups is linked with modest reductions in symptom severity. It may also shorten symptom duration by approximately 1-2.5 days. You may feel less sick, and for less time. However, not all studies have found this same benefit.

3. Less Coughing, Congestion, and Soreness

Chicken noodle soup can provide noticeable relief for symptoms such as:

• Stuffy nose: The steam and warmth of chicken noodle soup help open airways and reduce nasal congestion, allowing you to breathe more freely and comfortably.

• Cough and sore throat: Along with its warmth, soup's fluids help thin mucus and moisten your throat, which can ease coughing or scratchiness.

• Stress: If you find chicken noodle soup comforting, it can indirectly encourage recovery by reducing stress and allowing your body to rest.

4. More Energy

The carbohydrates in noodles and fiber in veggies promote satiety (a feeling of fullness) and provide fuel for energy, which is especially helpful when your body is working hard to fight an illness.

How to Make Soup Healthier

• Opt for homemade: Making soup at home can help you control the ingredients and salt content, which may be high in canned soups.

• Reduce the sodium: The warm broth in soup is central to some of its healing benefits, but some store-bought broths can be high in sodium. Many people need to be mindful of limiting their salt intake. When making chicken noodle soup, choose low-sodium broth or dilute higher-sodium broth with water.

• Diversify your veggies: Include a variety of vegetables, such as carrots, celery, onions, and others you enjoy, to boost the vitamin and antioxidant content of your soup. More nutrients may offer more benefits.

• Consider your carbs and fiber: Regular noodles can provide a quick energy boost. To improve satiety, you can consider using whole-grain or high-fiber noodles or adding legumes or grains.

• Add in ingredients: Modify your soup or recipe to include other ingredients with known health and healing benefits, such as fresh ginger, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, and leafy greens.