"fever" news and stories

Seems like I should have been talking about this before Valentine's Day was over. The self-proclaimed "ultimate pleasure beverage" -- Fever -- is making some pretty hefty claims on what their product can do for your ... umm ... libido. The all-natural beverage, designed for adults over 18, claims to "generate a sense of warmth and stimulation that lasts for hours, your feelings and emotions intensified."

This isn't simply your average Ginseng drink though. According to their website, the ingredients include: Horny goat weed, clavo huasca, panax ginseng, caffeine from green tea, catuaba, damiana leaf, suma, maca and guarana. (If you want to know what all those ingredients are supposed to do for you, there is a full listing on their site.)

I'm not saying it works, I'm not saying it doesn't. But if anyone out there has tried it, let us know your thoughts.

I started to feel lousy the day after Thanksgiving (stuffy head, dry throat, tired), and I've been eating a lot of chicken soup (chicken noodle soup, specifically), and I was wondering why we are supposed to eat the stuff when we are sick and why I immediately craved it once I got sick. Does it really have the power to cure you, or is it just an old wive's tale passed down through the decades?

Yahoo! Answers has the, well, answer. Sort of. There is no conclusive proof that chicken soup helps when you're sick, but Dr. Stephen Rennard tested his grandma's recipe and came to the conclusion that the soup inhibits inflammation in the nasal cavity. Drkoop.com and others say it has amino acids that help. Another doc says that it creates mucus that soothes the throat. Mmmmm...think of that the next time you're eating chicken soup. I've also heard that the starch in the noodles helps in some way.

Me? I just think it tastes really good, and really makes me feel good when I'm sick, especially on a chilly, late fall day.

We posted about Pho Fever around this time last year, and appears that since then the pho site has added a forum where fans can discuss that ambrosial mixture of beef, broth, noodles and herbs. The forum isn't exactly booming, but there are about 50 users, and a healthy banter about pho recipes. With any luck, more people will check it out and share their thoughts. The site also has a sparsely updated pho blog, but for my pho blogging needs, I think I'll stick with the slightly more current Pho King.