Drink This Little-Known Beverage To Relieve Your Stuffy Nose

When your nose is stuffed, you want to unstuff it as soon as possible. But you don't necessarily have to take over-the-counter or prescription medications to find reliable relief. Instead, you may be able to clear up your congestion by sipping on pineapple juice.

The secret behind pineapple juice's congestion-busting powers lies in its abundance of bromelain. Not familiar with bromelain? The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes bromelain as a naturally occurring set of enzymes that are thought to possess anti-inflammatory and mucus-thinning properties. A study from 2023 from Current Issues in Molecular Biology corroborates that assertion, concluding that bromelain can inhibit the body's inflammatory responses. 

But will coming bromelain by ingesting pineapple juice be enough to send bromelain coursing through your system? It just might. A 2021 simulation described in the International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology noted that taking bromelain by mouth should allow its enzymes to enter the body efficiently and take effect as an anti-inflammatory agent. In other words, when congestion gets you down, pouring yourself a glass of pineapple juice could be your ticket to better breathing. That being said, you shouldn't just fuel up on tons of pineapple juice and hope for the best. Rather, take a scientific approach so you get pineapple juice's bromelain-related benefits without experiencing the downsides of drinking too much pineapple juice.

When trying something new like chugging down pineapple juice to combat nasal and sinus inflammation, you should always proceed judiciously. Although bromelain could make you feel more comfortable, excessive pineapple juice can cause unpleasant side effects. As WebMD points out, some of the well-known side effects of pineapple and bromelain overconsumption include nausea, diarrhea, and a rash of the skin. That's why it's essential to know when to cut off your pineapple juice drinking.

There's a problem, though: It's hard to find out how much bromelain you can expect to get from pineapple juice. A 2017 study published in Nihon Chikusan Gakkhaiho suggests that pineapple juice itself contains a bromelain concentration level of 0.43%. However, it's hard to translate that percentage into exactly how much pineapple juice you need to blow away your stuffiness.

What can you do? Take a conservative approach to your pineapple juice intake and don't guzzle a whole bottle or can in a sitting. You also can infer how much pineapple juice is too much by looking at recipes. For instance, all of the homeopathic pineapple juice-based drinks provided by Healthline recommend drinking one-quarter of a cup of pineapple juice per sitting. Hence, starting with that amount every few hours may allow your body to absorb bromelain without causing you unwanted symptoms.

There's no need to wait until you have a stuffy nose to buy pineapple juice, especially if you're someone who likes to take the home remedy route whenever possible. Drinking pineapple juice isn't just advantageous for clearing your nasal passages, after all. It also may be a useful home-based treatment to correct a poorly performing immune system or reduce chronic joint inflammation.

For example, during a 2014 study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, children who ate at least one cup of pineapple daily improved their immune responses. Researchers interpreted those findings as supportive of pineapple as a natural way to increase the body's ability to fight off infections. And in a 2020 randomized trial from the Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, adult participants who were diagnosed with osteoarthritis and took supplements containing bromelain and papain reported a marked improvement in their pain levels after six weeks.

Since the American Lung Association estimates that most people in the United States get two or more colds annually, you can count on being stuffed up at some point. When that day comes along, consider pulling out the pineapple juice before heading straight to the medicine cabinet. There's no harm in trying something new as long as you are mindful of the amount of juice you enjoy.