4 old wives’ tales that are actually true

Carmen Williams 15:18 18/06/2015
Chicken soup is good for a cold
Unfortunately, there’s no real cure for the common cold, but chicken soup can make you feel better. How? Well, according to a study done back in 2000, it seems the soup held back the movement of neutrophils, which are the most common type of white blood cell to fight against infection. Dr. Stephen Rennard, who conducted the study using his wife’s homemade chicken soup recipe, theorised that this helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms.
While the exact ingredients responsible for this couldn’t be identified, there are thoughts that it could simply be a combination of the chicken and the vegetables. Well, they are both good for you. Or maybe it’s just the warm, healing feeling that drinking soup seems to give you? Either way, keep a chicken soup recipe handy for when you, or a loved one isn’t feeling too well just in case.
Fish is brain food
Eating just one kind of fish a week, grilled or baked, boosts your brain power according to this study. Apparently, any kind of fish, not just the oily ones, will do.
But the oily ones could help prevent blindness as you get older. The omega 3 fatty acids help stop tiny blood vessels from bleeding into the back of the eye. So while eating oily fish isn’t necessary going to keep your brain whirring, it won’t hurt either and could actually keep your eyes in tip top shape even when you’re old and grey.
Heartburn in pregnancy means you’re going to have a hairy baby
According to CBS News, this might seem like a tall tale, but was proven true by researchers at Johns Hopkins University who say there is actually a link between how severe the heartburn was and the hairiness of the newborn child.
While it is not necessarily a cause and effect relationship (it doesn’t mean it’s the actual hair on your baby’s head causing the heartburn), it does look as if the high levels of estrogen (which is what appears to be responsible for hair growth while the baby is developing) that increase in your third trimester is what makes you really feel the burn in your throat.
Vinegar for mosquito bites
This one might not be as well known as some of the others on this list, but it is just as true. Few things are as annoying as mosquito bites – especially if they’re in places that would be impolite to scratch in public. So when you notice one or two fresh bites, try applying a little vinegar (especially the apple cider variety) directly to it, or if you’re covered in them, take a hot bath to which you’ve added about 2 ½ cups of vinegar.
The acidity of the vinegar helps change the PH balance of the skin around the bite and makes it a lot less itchy, according to Huffington Post.

- Women24