4 Juices That Help When You Have a Cold

Orange juice is filled with vitamin C, which can help in your fight against the common cold.
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The cold is a common affliction that often makes people miserable, with people in the United States plagued by more than one billion colds each year, often including sneezing, runny noses, coughs or headaches.

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While there is no cure for the cold, high doses of vitamin C may help limit a cold's duration. Drinking juices high in vitamin C may also help if you have low levels of the vitamin. The efficacy of vitamin C on a cold, however, does vary from one person to the next.

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Read more: The Best Natural Sources of Vitamin C

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Drinking juice when you have a cold can help you stay hydrated and may help ease your sore throat. To help your body fight off a cold, include juices rich in vitamin C, such as orange juice, grapefruit juice, and tomato juice.

Orange Juice for Extra Vitamin C

Orange juice is a good source of vitamin C and, as it provides support for your immune system, it is potentially helpful during a cold.

A 1-cup serving of raw orange juice has 124 milligrams of vitamin C, which is more than 100 percent of the recommended dietary intake for the vitamin. Vitamin C is also a natural antioxidant, which helps protect your body's cells from damage or death.

Read more: Why Is Orange Juice Healthy?

Pink or White Grapefruit Juice

Grapefruit juice, like orange juice, is a source of vitamin C, although it does not have as much vitamin C as orange juice. There are two types of grapefruit juice: pink and white.

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A 1-cup serving of pink grapefruit juice has 94 milligrams of vitamin C per serving, while the white grapefruit juice has 87 milligrams of vitamin C per cup. This provides over 100 percent of the RDI of vitamin C for adults and pregnant women — but not for breastfeeding women — who require 120 milligrams.

Low-Sodium Tomato Juice

Tomato juice, unlike grapefruit or orange juice, is not a juice you can easily make at home. When buying canned tomato juice, choose one with no added salt to reduce the amount of sodium you take in.

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A 1-cup serving of tomato juice has 170 milligrams of vitamin C, making it a better source of the cold-fighting nutrient than either orange or grapefruit juice.Tomato juice also contains some vitamin A, which, as a natural antioxidant, may also provide immune support to your body during a cold.

Lemon Juice for Flavor

Lemon juice is another citrus juice that is a good source of vitamin C. However, because it is more sour-tasting than either grapefruit or orange juice, it is best if you drink it diluted with water or blend it with other sweeter juices.

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A 1-cup serving of lemon juice has a little more than 94 milligrams of vitamin C. This provides about as much vitamin C per serving as grapefruit juice does, although you need to add at least 1 cup of water to the juice before you can drink it. But getting the extra water with the juice may help you stay hydrated too.

Read more: 7 Surprising Foods to Combat Colds

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