Your Justification to Drink Cocktails While Sick

via Cold Remedy Cocktails: Do They Work? – ABC News.

When it comes to adding a shot of alcohol to your cold or flu remedy, it’s hard not to wish those boozy concoctions are doing some good for your health. As it turns out, they are.

Well, kinda.

Drinks like hot toddies, which traditionally contain whiskey, lemon and honey, can actually give cold and flu patients relief from their symptoms, said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

It just can’t prevent or cure a cold or flu virus.

“It would not have an effect on the virus itself, but its effect on the body can possibly give you some modest symptom relief,” Schaffner said. “The alcohol dilates blood vessels a little bit, and that makes it easier for your mucus membranes to deal with the infection.”

Since Sept. 30, more than 5,100 influenza cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 40 cases of H1N1.

Schaffner said warm moisture from a steaming mug of any beverage can offer symptom relief.

“That’s part of why chicken soup is thought to work,” he said.