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Comment by orev | Hacker News Reader

You’ll notice a common thing in all cold remedies (tea, hot honey tea, hot lemon tea, hot honey and lemon, hot chicken soup, hot broth, etc): they are all hot liquids that you consume over a few minutes (instead of a pill that you just swallow). The secret is the hot liquid melts the mucus and opens up your airways.

Plain hot water works just as well as any other remedy, and doesn’t have any extra sugar or caffeine that you might not want.

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Do you have a reference for that?

Because I'm posting this in response to a metastudy that indicates that honey works better than a placebo. And anecdotally I've found that other hot drinks, such as coffee, do not work as well as a hot honey and lemon. And yet your theory indicates that coffee should be equivalent.

The heat also might have an anti-viral effect, as cold viruses tend to flourish in the colder than internal body temperatures of the airways. It can act like a localized brief fever, but even hotter.

You need to back that up with heavy duty studies if you want it taken seriously on HN.

I have done a metric fuck ton of home remedies for respiratory stuff. I don't think that is remotely accurate.

I’m not saying anything that requires extraordinary evidence, even basic medical sites say this:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi...

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/i...

I don't readily see any mention in your first link. Your second link says:

Sip warm liquids. A cold remedy used in many cultures, taking in warm liquids, such as chicken soup, tea or warm apple juice, might be soothing and might ease congestion by increasing mucus flow.

I'm not disputing that warm liquids help. The thing I take issue with is your claim that the warm liquid is all that really matters and you can just use hot water and it's superior to consuming stuff with sugar etc.

Ironically, right below the above quote of your source, it says as a separate suggestion:

Try honey. Honey may help coughs in adults and children who are older than age 1. Try it in hot tea.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/i...

It's the very first point in the first link:

Stay hydrated: ... drinking warm liquids can be soothing, prevent dehydration and ease congestion.

The honey thing in the second link is not at all ironic. "Try honey in your hot beverage" is pretty straightforward. Honey tastes good, so try it in your hot beverage. Again it follows the common theme.

I have super bad eyesight and a serious medical condition. I sometimes have trouble finding things that other people think are pretty obvious. I stated explicitly I didn't readily see it. The implicit message there is that I don't doubt that it's there, but I, personally, can't find it quickly enough for me to feel it is worth pursuing to have some fairly trivial argument on the internet.

We seem to be failing to communicate on my main point.

I agree that warm liquids help. I'm not disputing that.

But showing that doesn't actually show that the hot liquid is the only "active ingredient" and nothing else matters such that just drinking hot water is an adequate substitute for a variety of home remedies where the theme is hot liquids. You aren't providing any support for that point.

I am disputing that specific point. I don't think it is true and I don't think you have provided any support for it.

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