“Feed a cold, starve a fever” is an adage that has been around a long time, but is it actually good medical advice? Although appetite is often affected by illness, there is no real evidence that fasting when your temperature is spiking can be beneficial.
Even when you’re under the weather, your body needs fuel, says Sarah Sams, MD, a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians and associate director at Grant Family Medicine Residency in Columbus, Ohio. “There is no evidence to back up the saying “starve a fever, feed a cold,” she says, but what you eat does play a very real role in both fever treatment and managing a cold.
Overall, diet can impact immunity, so proper nutrition is important before, during, and after you get sick.
