Here's why Chinese chicken noodle soup is the best way to warm up as the temperature drops

By ABC NEWS

NEW YORK CITY (SBG) — Is chicken soup an essential drug?

In a 1999 edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, two doctors raised that exact question and argued in favor of classifying the popular cold remedy as such. The article cited a study in which either the aromatic quality of chicken soup or an undetermined mechanism relating to its taste was found to lead to an increase in nasal mucus velocity, which meant that eating chicken soup was indeed beneficial in alleviating acute rhinitis, or a stuffy nose. It also referenced the time-tested history of chicken soup, reasoning that centuries of anecdotal evidence was a sufficient substitute for randomized controlled trials.

"We think the popularity of chicken soup, as evidenced by observational data and the experience of generations of patients and healers, shows overwhelmingly that patients value and prefer this remedy for a number of conditions and ailments," wrote Dr. Abraham Ohry and Dr. Jenni Tsafrir.

Whether or not you're inclined to classify chicken soup as an essential drug, it's likely that you've tried a bowl at some point during your life to soothe a sore throat or remedy a runny nose. But while your basic Campbell's may have done the trick in the past, a noodle bar in New York City is serving up an herbal variation based on Chinese medicine that'll keep you from ever reaching for the canned stuff again.