Does chicken soup really help when you're sick? A nutrition specialist explains what's behind the beloved comfort food

Preparing a bowl of chicken soup for a loved one when they're sick has been a common practice throughout the world for centuries. Today, generations from virtually every culture swear to the benefits of chicken soup. Chicken soup as a therapy can be traced back to 60 A.D. and Pedanius Dioscorides, an army surgeon who served under the Roman emperor Nero, and whose five-volume medical encyclopedia was consulted by early healers for more than a millennium.