When walking around campus, it seems as though everyone has been struck by the “Penn State Plague.” I myself have bronchitis (yes, I’m the one who hacks up one of her lungs once every class). But, I have other friends who have similar colds, such as sore throats. The other day, I walked into class and sat down with a few of my friends. One of my friends had a sore throat, and he was drinking a a big bottle of orange juice.
“Why are you drinking that?” I asked him. He said it was because he had always been told that orange juice had vitamin C, and it would help heal his throat faster. I recalled a time that I had strep when I was younger, and my doctor told me to avoid anything acidic, including orange juice. Since then, I have seen people drinking orange juice when their throats are sore. I have always wondered if my friends were right and my doctor was a quack, and orange juice did help your throat, or if that is just a myth that is causing people more pain than they already have.
From the research I have done, the answer to this question is no. Orange is very acidic, and the acids can irritate your throat. Also, a study at The University of Maryland shows that drinking orange really doesn’t help cure a cold, at least in the short term. If a person has a high and consistent Vitamin C intake at all times, not just when they have a cold, the duration of their cold will be lowered by one day.
So, how can you actually help your cold? I suppose if you are very paranoid about next semester’s Penn State Plague, you can be proactive and start to drink more orange juice now. But, if you’re like my poor friend, and you’re already sick, you can use home remedies such as gargling salt water, getting plenty of rest, and drinking chamomile tea.
I hope that all of my fellow Science 200ers avoid the Penn State plague, but if you don’t, and you do get that scratchy, terrible feeling, don’t drink orange juice!
I saw that this post got a lot of comments, and I just want to clarify something that I said! So, orange juice is not good for sore throats, because of how acidic it is. However, the Vitamin C in orange juice is good for sore throats! So, for the person taking Emergen-C you should be fine as long as you avoid the acidic flavors such as the Tangerine and the Super Orange. Vitamin C is always good for you, whether you have a cold or not, so keep it as a part of your diet!
I found this post very interesting because I, too, had always been told that orange juice is the thing to drink when you are sick or have a sore throat. When I went online to do some research on this, I found results supporting what you stated in your post.Various doctors recommend drinking hot tea instead, for the reason that the acidity in the orange juice further irritates the throat tissue. The clarification that needs to be made is that it’s the “excellent source of Vitamin C” in orange juice that helps keep you healthy, but orange juice is something to avoid if you are already sick.
Hello, my name is Stephanie! I had never even pondered whether or not orange juice had an impact on sore throats. I had only ever heard orange juice was good for fighting off a cold due to the Vitamin C present in it. I currently am part of the crowd who has the ‘plague’ so my roommate has been suggesting I drink orange juice. In addition, I had a sore throat for a couple of days. I think it makes sense that the acidity of the orange juice would irritate the throat. However, that only defeats the purpose of drinking orange juice to fight colds. It is said that tea can in fact help fight colds. Tea is not known for being real acidic either. Maybe tea can be a substitute to fighting a cold when one has a sore throat. Unfortunately, getting the “Penn State Plague” is almost a guarantee. I plan to get plenty of rest to aid me in overcoming the ‘plague.’
This post hits close to home as I too, am currently dying of the Penn State plague. I am concerned about the evidence you found in your research du to the fact that I have been drinking gallons of “Emergen-C” weekly in an attempt to stay healthy. The Emergen- C website states that “Vitamin C is essential in maintaining a healthy immune system, and is critical to the formation of collagen, a structural protein that supports the skin and internal organs”. The medicine comes in both powder dissolvable form and chewable vitamin form. It contains antioxidants such as zinc that help your immune system. You don’t have to drink orange juice next time you get a cold. However, there is evidence that vitamin C does indeed help via the intake of “Emergen-C”, despite your research stating that it acts as a negative.
It seems like about half of the people in all of my classes are already sick. I think a lot of people are not getting enough sleep and their bodies are run down. I will definitely start drinking orange juice soon to help avoid getting sick! However, although I love a cold glass of orange juice, I definitely would not choose to drink if I was sick. I always choose to drink something warm, like tea, when I have a sore throat.