Chicken soup, it’s not just an old wives tale. Scientific research has found that a bowl of hot, steaming chicken noodle soup can ease your cold and flu symptoms and possibly get you back on your feet faster.

It turns out that grandmother’s quaint belief that chicken soup will cure “what ails you” was correct.

A study published in the American Journal of Therapeutics found that a compound in chicken soup called carnosine may help the body’s immune system to fight the early stages of the flu. It is also thought that a steamy warm liquid like soup, or hot tea might help to loosen clogged nasal passages.

Many cultures subscribe to the idea of chicken soup as a remedy, and there are many different versions of it. Bulgarians often add something sour like lemon juice or vinegar. The Portuguese add mint. The Danish like to eat chicken soup with dumplings.

One study on chicken soup was conducted by Dr Stephen Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, used his wife’s Lithuanian family recipe to conduct research. The results were published in the 2000 edition of the medical journal Chest.

He looked at blood samples from volunteers and found that the soup inhibited the movement of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. Dr Rennard theorises that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup essentially helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms.

His research found that canned or commercial soups had the same effect as the home made soup. So if you feel too bad to cook, it’s okay to crack open a tin, even if your grandmother wouldn’t fully approve.

Apparently, chicken soup even helps with congestion caused by allergies.

“With so many bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant it is necessary to use not just drugs, but natural means of maintaining health,” Dr Murray Grossan wrote in an article called Chicken Soup for Asthma and Allergies in the Coping with Asthma and Allergies Journal.

He wrote: “For example, Grandma’s chicken soup and hot tea are important and legitimate medical treatments, because they help the cilia of the nose and bronchial passages move quickly so they can defend the respiratory system against contagions.”

So slurp down that hot soup and breathe in the steam. At the very least it will make you feel a little more cozy while you recuperate.