Eating Away at the Post-Nasal Drip

By Emily Gasser | Mental Mastication

Break is over, and once again it’s that special time of year when the bookstore sells out of Kleenex, Worth rushes to refill their Sudafed stash and huge honking nose-blows interrupt every lecture. It’s January, high season for colds, coughs, flus and every other virus-born illness around, and most of us will probably soon find ourselves suffering from Attack of the Phlegm. Let’s face it – as much rehydrated Sharples oj as we may gulp down in a vain search for nutrients, the constant stress, late nights and less-than-stunningly-nutritious diet (no, a screwdriver does not count as fruit, and those little bits of parsley in your ramen are hardly vegetables) that most of us submit ourselves to doesn’t exactly work wonders for the immune system. But once the plague hits – or better yet, before it does – there are a few remedies worth trying to help stave off upper-respiratory distress. And this being a column devoted to pleasures of the palate, I’m not talking faux-cherry cough syrup.

Step one: Garlic. Most exalted of spices, as well one of the most universal – you find me a cuisine that doesn’t use garlic, and I’ll show you a severely deprived set of taste buds. In addition to being just plain delicious, garlic also kills everything it touches; according to the National Institutes of Health, the chemical allicin, found in garlic (aka allium sativum), has strong anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-parasitic properties. Wards off vampires, tapeworm and the common cold. True, nobody wants to kiss a girl with garlic breath, but post-nasal drip doesn’t exactly bring in the hotties either. The bad news is garlic in the dining hall is generally limited to the powder variety, which has a high stink quotient and little to no allicin. The Co-op, however, sells whole heads for $2.49 a pound. Boil it in broth, swallow it whole, it’s all good, but the easiest way to down the stuff is roasted. Put a head of garlic on a sheet of tinfoil, cover with a tablespoon of olive oil, wrap it up in the foil, and leave it in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Let it cool, cut the top off, and spread it on toast. The flavor’s mild enough to eat it plain, or you can be adventurous and add cayenne (hot pepper is also anti-microbial, and anyone with wasabi experience will tell you how fast spicy food can clear out stuffy nasal passages) or melted cheese (brie is classic; mozzarella and feta are readily available at the Sharples salad bar). Cheese also gives you a hit of zinc, shown to shorten a cold by half. The best way to get it, says the NIH, is from oysters, but until Sharples introduces Raw Bar, hit the burger line; it’s also found in beef.

Step two: Green tea. Full of antioxidants, which boost the immune system, plus it’s just nice to breathe in those warm vapors when your lungs are not at their best. If you’ve got access to some fresh ginger, and if you can walk to the Co-op you do, cut off a bit of that and let it steep a few minutes; it’s possibly anti-bacterial and certainly another good source of antioxidants. A squeeze of lemon juice (from the little cooler by the tea) adds vitamin C. There’s debate over how much C actually helps with colds, but at least you know you won’t get scurvy. And honey (condiment bar) has long been known to be anti-microbial; the Romans used it to clean wounds in battle. And one added benefit: It’s no cup o’ joe, but green tea does have significant caffeine content. It won’t fuel an all-nighter, but unless you’ve inured yourself with a semester’s worth of Red Bull it should keep you going through that last problem set of the evening.

To wash it all down: Maybe you shouldn’t completely cut out the screwdrivers after all. We all know from 8^th-grade health class that alcohol is a poison, and that applies as well to whatever germs it may encounter in your gullet. You’ve seen what a mixed drink or two can do to that underweight freshman girl down the hall; imagine its effect on a virus one hundred-millionth her size (give or take). As wholesome a source as Reader’s Digest online lists “hygienic soak” as an alternate use for vodka. Grapefruit, orange and cranberry juices are all full of vitamin C. Not to say a night of heavy drinking will help things any, but a cosmo or two might not be such a bad thing.

In memorium: To conclude, I’d like to take a few words to remember Mr. Momofuku Ando, who died earlier this month in Ikeda, Japan at age 96. In 1958, Mr. Ando had an idea that would forever change eating on the cheap as we know it – he invented ramen noodles. Not the kind you eat at a noodle shop with an egg cracked on top, but the 69-cents-a-package late-night staple, sold by his company, Nissin Foods, as Cup Noodles and Top Ramen ($3.2 billion worth yearly). Who knew a sodium-laden package of noodles and dried peas could touch so many lives?

Published version: http://phoenix.swarthmore.edu/2007-01-25/living/16752