Another “Mother Was Right!”

After scientists showed that chicken soup was good for feverish colds, we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, now it has. Although viruses cause the common cold, British scientists at Cardiff University have been able to show that cold wet feet can give you a cold, just like Mom said.

The researchers found 180 apparently healthy people who were prepared to volunteer for this study. Half of them had their feet placed in a bowl of icy water for 20 minutes, while the other half sat with their feet in an empty bowl. After a few days 13 of the 90 volunteers who had had their feet chilled said they were suffering from the symptoms of a cold, compared with only 5 of the 90 who hadn’t had the chilling treatment. This was a significant result from the statistical point-of-view; that is to say, it couldn’t have occurred by chance alone.

The head of the research team that did the study said “When colds are circulating in the community, for every person you see who is symptomatic, there are two or three who have a sub-clinical infection. It’s those people who are prone to developing a common cold when they are chilled – they’ve already got the virus, but the chilling is actually reducing their respiratory defense.” And he went on to explain that one effect of chilling is to reduce the number of the immune cells in the mucosa of the nose, due to cold-induced constriction of blood vessels and slowing of mucous clearance.

There’s another, more complex, explanation for these findings. Maybe the people who had their feet in the icy water developed a psychological stress response that reduced their natural immunity? Either way, it pays to keep warm and dry, if you can.