Orange Juice Producers May Be The Only People Happy About The Flu Outbreak

This flu season has been catastrophic to say the least: Some classrooms are closing, entire offices have been laid out, and productivity has taken a massive hit overall. What's the silver lining of this terrible black cloud?

According to the Wall Street Journal, orange juice producers have found some positives in this flu season:

Orange juice sales rose 0.9 percent to 38.66 million gallons in the four weeks ended Jan. 20. That uptick marked the first year-over-year increase in nearly five years, according to Nielsen, though analysts don't expect this trend to last much beyond flu season.

Nothing's more refreshing to me than a freshly squeezed glass of OJ, but man, has my relationship with orange juice fallen out of favor. You'd think, "oh, fruit, this must be healthy!" My local supermarket was selling fresh-squeezed juice (I'd long disliked the Minute Maid/Tropicana-stuff), and I thought this was a great alternative to the sugar-laced teas I favored. For a while, I was drinking a quart of orange juice a day. Even working out regularly, I was actually gaining weight, and I placed the blame on my OJ love. Not coincidentally, I began shedding the pounds as soon as I cut back on orange juice.

The Journal claimed public awareness of its high-sugar content as a reason for its decline in popularity. Also cited: Flavored water such as La Croix and energy drinks. But apparently, OJ still fits the bill for cold and flu sufferers.