Should you starve a cold and feed a fever?

It’s one of the most well-known medical bromides around: starve a cold, feed a fever. Or is it feed a cold, starve a fever? Either way, it may not matter. Scientists have found little evidence for either.

How these claims came about is unclear. One popular but unproven theory is that fasting during a fever helps lower body temperature, while eating plenty of food helps raise it, thus helping to fight off a cold. Perhaps the only study suggesting that either claim had any validity was published in the Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology in 2002 by a team of Dutch scientists. They found that eating a meal increases a type of immune response that fights off the viruses responsible for colds, while fasting seemed to stimulate an immune response that could help fight off the infections associated with most fevers. But other scientists have said those findings have little merit because the study involved a small number of subjects and has not been replicated. Most doctors say there is only one tried-and-true treatment: plenty of rest and fluids.