{"id":98262,"date":"2021-05-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=98262"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:28:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:28:01","slug":"chicken-soup-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/05\/25\/chicken-soup-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken Soup Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tChicken Soup for UNMC's Soul\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA<\/span><\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t feel-good study by one of UNMC\u2019s top researchers has proven to be comfort food for the media for nearly 30 years. Several years ago, Stephen Rennard, MD, one of UNMC\u2019s top scientists, decided it would be fun to put the old folk wisdom to the test. Cultures all over the world have some version of the credo that if you\u2019re sick, you should eat chicken soup. It\u2019ll make you feel better. Grandma says so! So it must be true.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

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Share<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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Related Links<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Research featured in 75th anniversary issue of Chest<\/a><\/p>\n\n

2002 Survey supports study<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t

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But Dr. Rennard is a scientist. He lives to find the truth of things, to figure things out. So, into the lab he went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, he had just the chicken soup to test. His wife, Barbara, makes magical chicken soup. Heavenly chicken soup. It is her grandmother\u2019s recipe<\/a>, and if any chicken soup could cure colds, this would be this one.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n

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Cooking with the Rennards: Grandma says it is good<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tVideo Transcript<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t

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You can read the scientific paper<\/a> if you\u2019d like. But, bottom line, Grandma was right (as always). And this time, science confirms it. It was officially peer reviewed and published, first in 1993, and again in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we did in the laboratory was actually very rigorous,\u201d Dr. Rennard said. \u201cAdmittedly, we did it for the fun of it. Because we were amused by it like everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat our work shows is that there are ingredients in common foodstuffs that might have anti-inflammatory actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that finding brought about another scientific reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was just something about hearing this, having it proven, scientific research showing us that Grandma knew best, that struck a chord with people. With the media, especially. The story was a big hit when it first came out, and it\u2019s been one ever since. Media all over the world, every year, and possibly even this very minute, have reported on it nonstop.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t

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"As much as I hate to have to admit it, my chicken soup, which is the best chicken soup there is, doesn\u2019t have any greater effect than anybody else\u2019s. Chicken soup is good no matter what you do."<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u2013 Barbara Rennard<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t

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\u201cIt never loses its luster,\u201d said Tom O\u2019Connor, who headed UNMC\u2019s media relations efforts from 1987 until his retirement in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At our last Google, \u201crennard chicken soup\u201d resulted in 27,500 results in 0.49 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the soup itself, there\u2019s just something in this story that makes us feel good.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n

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Dr. Rennard, UNMC\u2019s inaugural scientist laureate, is a world-renowned chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) researcher<\/a>. Well, he\u2019s world renowned for his COPD research within scientific circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, now he\u2019ll always be \u201cDid you know\u201d-famous for his work with chicken soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must be like being a world-class piano virtuoso now forever associated with some poppy one-hit wonder you did on a lark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, no, Dr. Rennard said. It\u2019s not like that at all. \u201cIt would be kind of like,\u201d he said, and then paused for a good 10 seconds, trying to think of what it would be like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOK, so Charles Dodgson<\/a>,\u201d Dr. Rennard finally said. (Charles Dodgson? Pen name: Lewis Carroll.) \u201cIt\u2019s kind of arrogant to compare yourself to somebody like that. But, he got to be really famous for \u2018Alice in Wonderland.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was actually a serious mathematician,\u201d Dr. Rennard said.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n

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Chicken soup paper lives on<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tVideo Transcript<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t

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"One of the things that\u2019s interesting is that there\u2019s little doubt that 100 years from now probably everything else that I\u2019ve done will be forgotten because it\u2019ll be irrelevant and out of date. But the chicken soup paper probably still will be cited. I\u2019m speculating."<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Stephen Rennard<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t

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But, you know what? That\u2019s OK. This study, this story, just like chicken soup itself, goes beyond science. It makes us feel better. It gives us comfort. It lets us know we are loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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