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SALT LAKE CITY -- Sorry mom, but your warnings about getting sick when the weather changes, well, they're just not true.
Dr. Susan Terry is the medical director for community clinics at University Health Care. She says the weather can affect your vulnerability to colds, but only indirectly.
"The one thing that weather can do is change the humidity," she explains. "And when the humidity changes and the drier, colder air is present, our mucus membranes in the nose and the throat are more susceptible to allowing viruses to enter."
But she points out the cold virus is in the air year-round, so a change from cold to warm to cold again outside alone isn't more likely to make you sick.
Your best defense against spring colds - or summer, fall or winter colds - is the same as it's always been: good hand-washing on a frequent basis.
And just as indoor humidity can help your nose and throat stay moist and therefore less vulnerable, drinking plenty of liquids can keep your hydration level up and boost your internal humidity.
Dr. Terry says while your mother may also have pushed chicken noodle soup your way as a child to fend off a cold, there's no proof that's anything more than an old wives' tale, either.
There's no proof for the effectiveness of vitamin C, either. "Actually, they have not been shown to help," she says. "They may help treat symptoms, or psychologically treat symptoms, in the case of vitamin C."
Despite the many people who are firm believers in vitamin C's power, Dr. Terry points out that you can actually take too much, bringing on diarrhea or other complications.
By the way, the odds are your mother isn't the first person who ever told you a change in the weather would make you sick. We found an article from the 1874 New York Times warning against taking off the "long woolens" prematurely in the spring, lest you become more prone to consumption.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
