We've been told before, "You should drink orange juice when you are sick because it will boost your immunity." But, is that really true?

For decades orange juice has always been considered as a healthy drink. However it appears almost like orange juice might finally drop its claim to healthiness and be placed into the same classification as sodas.

According to a report published in Spoon University, despite the fact that orange juice contains Vitamin C, it is also loaded with sugar. It is not the same as the whole fruit and it has quite as much sugar as numerous typical beverages. As a matter of fact, a 12-oz. glass of orange juice holds more or less 9 teaspoon of sugar. That is about the same amount of sugar that can be found in a 12-oz. glass of Coke.

Sugar decelerates the immune system making the impending cold even worse rather than fighting it. Glucose or sugar utilizes the same receptors in the human body as Vitamin C. Thus, the greater the glucose level, the lesser Vitamin C absorption.

Considerably more blood sugar also weakens the body's ability to absorb Vitamin C into the kidneys. So even though one consumes enough or more Vitamin C by drinking an orange juice, it will still go to waste since the body will just absorb a little bit of it.

When it comes to battling colds, eating vegetables is one proven solution and this is better than drinking an orange juice. With vegetables, one can actually get much higher percentage of Vitamin C and other minerals too. While a medium size orange provides 70 mg of Vitamin C, chili peppers can supply as much as 108 mg of Vitamin C. Broccoli provides at least 132 mg and cauliflower gives a dose of 128 mg of Vitamin C.

But for those who are diehard fans of orange and other fruit juices, they can still continue enjoying these beverages and still receive the same benefits that you can get in eating the fruit. Just remember to drink only juices that are 100 percent natural and freshly squeezed. Not those that are packed with preservatives, stabilizer and sugar.