People should not really feed a cold and starve a fever. Research has indicated that eating is helpful in both cases. The origins of the myth are thought to date back to 1574, when a dictionary entry by lexicographer John Withals stated that not eating would help cool down a high temperature because the act of eating generates heat. Researchers now believe eating is helpful for the body to lower a fever because the increase in body temperature is a response of the immune system to fight illness, which in turn makes the body require more energy.
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