Soup for Colds, Step 1: The Ingredients

Tomatoes. Luscious packages of vitamin A, B6, and C.

Chicken.  Along with all the other healthy stuff  in chicken soup – the carrots, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and so on — the chicken itself helps fight colds. It’s because of an amino acid called cysteine, which helps thin mucous to ease your cough and stuffed-up nose.