Half of them put their feet in a bowl of ice-cold water, while the others sat with their feet in an empty bowl as the control group.
Over the next four to five days, 29 percent of the chilled volunteers developed cold symptoms, compared to only nine percent in the control group.
"The chilled group had approximately 10 to 12 percent more colds than the controlled group, thus supporting the folklore of so many mothers, who say know that in the winter you should wrap yourselves well and avoid getting your feet wet," Eccles said.
"Chilling causes a constriction in blood vessels in the nose, and this reduces our resistance to infections within the nose," he said. He concludes that chilling can bring on common cold symptoms.
The finding of the study will appear in this week's Oxford Journal of Family Practice, an international scientific publication from Oxford University.
-(IANS)
