CHAPTER 14

Infectious Disease

Broth has served as a traditional folk remedy for the common cold, flu, pneumonia, and other infectious diseases around the world for thousands of years, and chicken soup carries the nickname “Jewish penicillin.” Everyone seems to know it works. How it works is the unanswered question.

Studies on Chicken Soup

Over the years, people have come up with various explanations for chicken soup’s healing effect. Although some people dismiss its healing reputation as an old wives’ tale, most concede that broth at least increases hydration and helps convalescents feel warm and loved. That became official in 1978 when researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida, proved chicken soup offers more than water and a warm and nourishing placebo effect. They investigated the effect of chicken soup on the air flow and mucus in the noses of fifteen volunteers and found hot fluids helped increase the movement of nasal mucus; chicken soup did it even better, and cold water had no effect at all.

The study cited most often to establish chicken soup’s healing power comes from Stephen Rennard, MD, a pulmonary care expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. For years, Dr. Rennard had watched his wife, Barbara, cook up her Lithuanian grandmother’s chicken soup recipe whenever someone in their family felt a cold coming on. In 1993, he decided to find out why chicken soup seemed to have an anti-inflammatory effect. He published his results in CHEST: The Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians. His in vitro study came out in 2000 in the same journal, and concludes that some component of chicken soup inhibits neutrophil mobility.

The question is, is this desirable? Neutrophils are the most common white blood cell in the human body, and the body’s first line of defense. In the case of colds, they contribute to mucus production and the unpleasant symptoms of cough, runny nose, and sore throat. Although most people seek to stop the surface respiratory symptoms, that can send the infection deeper, ultimately making things worse. If we accept the fact that the body in its wisdom has given us neutrophils, it doesn’t make sense that the healing power of broth would lie in inhibiting them or killing them off.

Dr. Rennard also tested thirteen supermarket soup products and found five with an even greater neutrophil-inhibiting effect than the homemade soup. They were Knorr Chicken Flavor, Campbell’s Home Cookin’ Chicken Vegetable, Campbell’s Healthy Request Chicken Noodle, Lipton Cup-a-Soup Chicken Noodle, and Progresso Chicken Noodle. Even Campbell’s Vegetarian Vegetable had some neutrophil-inhibiting effect. Omaha tap water, the control, had no effect on them. Strikingly, the neutrophils seem to have actually become more active in Campbell’s Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodles, perhaps from the excitatory effect of the product’s MSG.

Given that commercial soups loaded with MSG and other dubious additives had both greater and weaker effects on the neutrophils, we have to ask whether neutrophils like swimming about in lab bowls of soup. Normally neutrophils in the body wouldn’t even be exposed to chicken broth, as it would be digested before entering the bloodstream. As Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times concluded, “It’s not known whether the changes measured in the laboratory really have a meaningful effect on people.”

Magic Bullets?

Most of the other studies done on broth over the years have not shown white blood cell inhibition. Rather, the various components appear to boost, balance, and essentially modulate the immune system as needed. The latest magic bullet reported is carnosine, an amino-acid derivative from the amino acids alanine and histidine, which may strengthen the body’s immune system so it can fight off the viruses that cause colds and flu in the early stages. As reported in the American Journal of Therapeutics in 2012, carnosine’s effect on immunity is short term. In other words, people need to consume soup every day during an illness. While that’s a good plan, we think broth every day in sickness and in health is the ticket to maintaining a high-functioning immune system.

Glutamine, the third most common amino acid found in broth, also nourishes the immune system. In the 1950s, Harry Eagle, MD (1905–1992), of the National Institutes of Health, found glutamine essential for the growth of all cells, including immune cells. More recently, John Alverdy, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, reports glutamine as critical for gut integrity and for a high-functioning secretory IgA immune system. Biochemist Eric Newsholme, DSc, PhD (1935–2011), linked glutamine depletion to immunosuppression in a series of studies, many on athletes. His work has led to widespread glutamine supplementation for people who are prone to infection because of extreme physical and mental stress.

Cartilage for the Immune System

The most heavily researched component of broth has been cartilage. Although Dr. John F. Prudden never tested the effect of cartilage on cold and flu viruses, he treated people for herpes, shingles, mononucleosis, Epstein-Barr virus, and other viral infections. In the case of these diseases, he found bovine tracheal cartilage stimulated the immune system into action, whether injected or taken orally. He also saw remarkable cures of autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, Crohn’s disease, and psoriasis, in which the immune system needed calming down.

“I like to call it a ‘potent normalizer,’ ” said Dr. Prudden. “That is the extraordinary thing about it. It responds to any aberrancy from normal.” How so? “Undoubtedly, it is because cartilage comes from the fetal mesenchyme,” he explained. “Mother Nature gave the mesenchyme bio-directors to help the fetus develop. If something in your muscles, skin, cartilage, or bone marrow needs to be directed or corrected, one of those macromolecular entities steps in. Obviously, there’s very complex chemistry involved, but that’s the key to the paradoxical activity of bovine cartilage.”

Cartilage doesn’t kill viruses directly, however. “With herpes, it was initially assumed that these remarkable effects were due to the direct effect of cartilage on the herpes virus itself,” he said. “Yet when they were directly exposed in viral cultures absolutely no effect was observed. This necessarily means that the unique clinical effects observed are due to stimulation of the immune system.”

Arthur G. Johnson, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anatomy, Microbiology, and Pathology at the School of Medicine of the University of Minnesota in Duluth, has studied bovine cartilage intensively. He reported that it is “a true biological response modifier,” meaning it increases the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria and viruses.

Dr. Johnson found that cartilage particularly activates the white blood cells known as macrophages. As the name implies—macro means “big” and phage means “eater”—macrophages pig out on bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other foreign microbes and their toxins. In addition, macrophages secrete the tumor necrosis factor alpha, which brings about the necrosis or death of tumors.

“ Infections

Bone broth saved me. After the birth of my third child, I got a uterine staph infection at five weeks postpartum. I went to the hospital and spent five days on IV antibiotics; consequently, two weeks later, I contracted Clostridium difficile. Again, they put me on antibiotics… I soon grew tired of the antibiotic merry-go-round, and found the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) diet of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. A major tenet of that diet is healing bone broth. I have not looked back since. Whenever I get a flare-up with digestive pain, loose bowels, and low energy, I go right to the bone broth. It eases the pain and is gentle on my digestive system. One of my favorite concoctions morning, noon, and night is bone broth with two heaping and healing tablespoons of sauerkraut.

—Sheila Walsh Dunton, Santa Cruz, California ”

Macrophages aren’t the only white blood cells so activated. Dr. Prudden reported bovine cartilage ignites cytotoxic T-cells, also known as killer T-cells. These kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, transplanted cells, and cancer cells directly and also recruit other lymphocytes and macrophages. Bovine cartilage is particularly effective at encouraging certain T-cells to order B-cells to differentiate into plasma cells. Plasma cells are little antibody factories that produce specific antibodies, which travel via the lymph and blood to the site of the battle.

Finally, Dr. Prudden found that bovine cartilage usually—though not always—increases the numbers of natural killer (NK) cells. NK cells produce interferons that inhibit viral replication and provide the first line of defense against cancer cells and against cells infected by agents other than viruses. The number of NK cells is down in cancer patients and the rate of decrease is directly related to the severity of the disease.

Additional research carried out at New York University studied bovine cartilage in the test tube and with mice. The team found that bovine cartilage rouses the B-lymphocytes of the spleen. Working with Brian G. M. Durie, MD, and other researchers, Dr. Prudden found that bovine cartilage not only achieved a consistent clinical rise in IgG and IgM but also in immunoglobulin A (IgA). IgA—the main type of antibody in saliva, nasal mucus, gastric juice, and breast milk—helps control respiratory and digestive viruses.

Bovine cartilage itself does not directly produce antibodies. It does so indirectly by stimulating the B-lymphocytes to respond to foreign antigens (such as bacteria and viruses) by manufacturing the right antibodies. Because it works indirectly, allergic reactions to bovine cartilage are virtually nonexistent. The same has been found of gelatin by many researchers over the years.

Yet another way cartilage affects the immune system is by inciting cells to release colony stimulating factor (CSF) and causing an increase in serum CSF. This factor is known to stimulate the growth of granulocytes and monocytes, activate macrophages, and increase eosinophil leukotriene production.

Leukotrienes are compounds closely related to prostaglandins, which are a family of fatty acid molecules that regulate functions throughout the body. Because leukotrienes play a role in the development of allergic and auto-allergic diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, it would seem that upping leukotriene production would be undesirable for people with autoimmune disorders. In fact, the ingestion of bovine cartilage is not contraindicated at all. Somehow the bio-directors in bovine cartilage know when to turn the leukotriene switch off or on.

In brief, cartilage seems capable of stimulating just about every type of white blood cell the body needs to mount a strong defense against unwanted microbes. It seems able to eradicate microbial disease without the use of antibiotics, antiviral drugs, and other pharmaceuticals, providing a more natural option for treating ear infections, urinary tract infections, bronchitis, and other infectious diseases. And that’s good news given that antibiotics reverse short-term symptoms at the expense of long-term health by stripping the digestive tract of beneficial bacteria along with the disease-causing ones. Good bacteria keep our digestive tracts functioning efficiently, producing natural antibiotics, anticarcinogens, and other beneficial substances. We attack them at our peril.

Gelatin for Infectious Disease

Many of the modern findings dovetail with research on gelatin from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. In those days, gelatin prepared from a powder was not only prescribed for the common cold and flu, but for acute infections such as typhus, scarlet fever, measles, cholera, dysentery, appendicitis, and pleuritis. Gelatin was also used to treat agues, a term referring to fevers marked by paroxysms of chills, fever, and sweating. Although clinicians reported gelatin to be helpful, disease and death rates did not go down until public sanitation was greatly improved.

“ Urinary Tract Infection

I accidentally discovered that oxtail soup was particularly beneficial in eliminating a chronic health problem that I, like many menopausal women, had developed in midlife: frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs).

I had been plagued with urethral discomfort and frequent urination for over six years. One day I made a large pot of oxtail soup for dinner on a cold winter night and consumed a large bowl of the soup for three to four consecutive days. After that, I noticed that I was symptom-free for the next couple of weeks. However, the symptoms reappeared. So I made the oxtail soup again and found the same beneficial effect. I then prepared a large pot of oxtail soup every three weeks and ate the soup several days in a row to see what would happen long term. Since doing this, I have been almost entirely symptom-free. Other broths also are helpful to me, but I have not found the same preventive effect from UTIs as with oxtail soup.

—Beverly Rubik, PhD, Oakland, California ”

People afflicted with urinary tract and other chronic infections also benefited from gelatin. It was especially valued for slowing the progression of wasting diseases like tuberculosis. Its benefits were many, including increased strength, better digestion, and restful sleep.

In 1803, an Italian scientist named G. Gautieri counted two ways in which gelatin is useful for infection: promoting perspiration through the skin and providing nutrition. In 1932, researchers showed that gelatin stimulates phagocytosis, the process by which a cell surrounds, engulfs, and eats microorganisms and cellular debris.

Inconsistent and Contradictory Results

Overall, however, the early studies on gelatin show inconsistent and often contradictory results. As discussed in chapter 8, there are many reasons for this, including qualitative issues with gelatin manufacture. The findings can also be confusing because oral as well as topical and intravenous forms of gelatins were used. What we know for sure is that these long-dead scientists and their mostly forgotten research consistently reported gelatin to be easy to digest and ideally suited to help recovery from acute infections and chronic illness. During their lifetimes, their recommendations were taken to heart in popular books on the subject of “invalid cooking,” which recommended “meat teas” and consommés to help weak appetites, queasy stomachs, and poor digestion. As Florence Nightingale wrote in her 1859 book, Notes on Nursing, “Remember that sick cookery should do half the work of your poor patient’s weak digestion.”

With the modern science on cartilage, it’s clear that cartilage-rich broth has the capacity to support the immune system. Looking to traditional wisdom, anecdotal evidence, and clinical reports, it’s evident that broth can bring health, balance, and integrity to the body as a whole. If, as Royal Lee, DDS, observed, we don’t have an immune system, we are an immune system, then broth honors our immunity and ourselves as the ideal healing food.

“ Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria

I grew up in Germany during World War II. In the winter of 1943, I became sick with scarlet fever and diphtheria. I had to be quarantined on the third floor of our house in Hamburg. My mother’s bone broth was the only food I could tolerate. A local butcher saved the bones for her, and my mother used her beef stock as a basis for many soups. Broth saved my life.

—Elly von Scharnberg Morrison, PhD, Bellingham, Washington

Flu

My twelve- and sixteen-year-olds fought a bad case of the flu with fevers never dropping below 101 and rising as high as 102.6. On the third day of this, I started giving them bone broth. That evening their fevers finally dropped below 100 and for the duration of the flu it never again went above 102. They both were completely better within a few days. The bone broth helped them to turn a corner, and I believe was the catalyst to their healing. If there is a next time, I will be giving it to them on the first day of an illness.

—Charlotte Corbitt, Queen Creek, Arizona

Colds and Flu

My mom and grandmother always cured colds and flu with chicken noodle soup. The bones were a big part of the soup. Between the benefits from the bones and the heat of the soup, it always worked. The hot soup would keep the throat open. Eating the chicken was a bonus.

—Rosalee Dodson, Lewistown, Pennsylvania

Body Couldn’t Get Enough

We just had two severe immune deficiency/digestive emergency cases here with two friends and once again chicken broth/soup turned them around. Both had the same exact quote: “It’s like my body couldn’t get enough of it.” Just sending you some more of what we all know. So interesting to be in the room when the GI doc came in!

—Tara Rayburn, Henderson, Nevada ”