{"id":51824,"date":"2015-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/02\/13\/the-scientist-and-his-chicken-soup\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:30:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T01:30:14","slug":"the-scientist-and-his-chicken-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/02\/13\/the-scientist-and-his-chicken-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"The scientist and his chicken soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nOh. So that’s what we’ve come to talk to him about. Chicken soup.<\/p>\n

\nDr. Rennard exhaled, and leaned back in his chair so his voice would carry into the open office door across the hall: “How do I feel about the chicken soup story, Lillian?”<\/p>\n

\nAfter a knowing laugh, the answer: “It’s just been unbelievable,” Lillian said. Dr. Rennard is Stephen Rennard, M.D., Larson Professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at UNMC.<\/p>\n

\nLillian is Lillian Richards, office associate I, internal medicine pulmonary, charged with wrangling Dr. Rennard, and sometimes (OK, often) also all this stuff about chicken soup.<\/p>\n

\nAnd this chicken soup stuff never stops. It happened again, just the other day. This time it was Martha Stewart mentioning it in a syndicated “Ask Martha” column. Yes, Martha said.<\/p>\n

\nAccording to a “recent” University of Nebraska Medical Center study, chicken soup, while not a cure, could help alleviate symptoms of the common cold.<\/p>\n

\nIt never stops.<\/p>\n

\nGo ahead, Google the words Rennard chicken soup and the search engine comes up with about 5,330 results in 21 seconds. None of them, as far as we can tell, are about any other Rennard or any other chicken or any other soup.<\/p>\n

\nPeople love it that a scientist actually has studied whether chicken soup might be good for you when you have a cold, just like your mom says.<\/p>\n

\nDr. Rennard, UNMC’s inaugural scientist laureate, is a world-renowned chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) researcher. Well, he’s world renowned for his COPD research within scientific circles. To the rest of us, thanks to a 1993 study that’s proven to have gone not viral, but retroviral, he’s world renowned as Mr. Chicken Soup.<\/p>\n

\n“It’s been 20 years,” Dr. Rennard said.<\/p>\n

\n“That’s the funny part,” came Lillian’s voice, from across the hall. It’s like a musician who has done great work for decades. But we, the public, can’t get that one, long-ago hit song out of our heads.<\/p>\n

\nRight?<\/p>\n

\nWell, no, Dr. Rennard said. It’s not like that at all. “It would be kind of like,” he said, and then paused for a good 10 seconds, trying to think of what it would be like.<\/p>\n

\n“OK, so Charles Dodgson,” Dr. Rennard finally said. (Charles Dodgson? Pen name: Lewis Carroll.) “It’s kind of arrogant to compare yourself to somebody like that. But, he got to be really famous for ‘Alice in Wonderland.’<\/p>\n

\n“He was actually a serious mathematician,” Dr. Rennard said. “But nobody cares about that other stuff.” This all happened because Dr. Rennard had also always heard the folk wisdom, from cultures all over the world, that chicken soup helps colds, and he loves that kind of stuff – he studied folklore and mythology at Harvard. But he also is a scientist. He lives to find the truth of things, to figure things out.<\/p>\n

\nAnd, his wife makes chicken soup. Wonderful chicken soup. Magical chicken soup. It is Barbara Rennard’s grandmother’s recipe, and if any chicken soup could cure colds, it would be this one.<\/p>\n

\nWhy not look into it?<\/p>\n

\n“What we did in the laboratory was actually very rigorous,” Dr. Rennard said. “Admittedly, we did it for the fun of it. Because we were amused by it like everybody else.”<\/p>\n

\nAnd?<\/p>\n

\n“What our work shows is that there are ingredients in common foodstuffs that might have anti-inflammatory actions. Mom’s old adage might just be true.”<\/p>\n

\nAnd so it is that Dr. Rennard, renowned COPD scientist, will be forever cited for his research on chicken soup.<\/p>\n

\nHow does he feel about that? Well, when the subject was first broached, his body language did not scream enthusiasm. But, the longer Dr. Rennard talked, the clearer it became that chicken soup is like that rascal uncle you can’t help but love. With every memory, he couldn’t help but smile. It’s been a fun ride. Besides, he may as well roll with it. It’s never going away.<\/p>\n

\nLeaning: “Do you think people will finally stop calling about the chicken soup story, Lillian?”<\/p>\n

\n“No,” Lillian said.<\/p>\n

\n“I think when you finally retire we’ll give them your home phone number,” Dr. Rennard said.<\/p>\n

\nChicken soup has given Dr. Rennard three great career highlights, the kind few scientists are lucky to get:<\/strong><\/p>\n