My husband loves having a glass of orange juice in the mornings. It is actually the only fruit I can get into him at that time of day. I was talking with a friend whose husband is newly diagnosed and she told me that she read somewhere people with PD should not have citrus and that included orange juice. I was shocked. I had never come across this before and decided to do my own research before asking him to make any changes to his diet.

I started by entering “orange juice and PD” in my search bar. There were a few hits and I wanted to share the three that I found most interesting. The first didn’t apply to our situation, but it seems that Harvard researchers have found drinking citrus juices may serve as a deterrent to developing PD. See more here Foods, drinks with flavonoids may reduce risk of Parkinson’s Disease | News | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. My next find was on the Davis Phinney website where they shared a guide to eating well with PD that was written by Martha Henze, MPH, MS, RDN a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She says that we need to stock OJ and other fruit juices and suggests it is a great way to ensure that my husband fulfills his daily needs for vitamin C. You can read her complete article here How to stock your fridge, freezer, and pantry to live well with Parkinson’s – Davis Phinney Foundation. I finally found a warning about OJ and PD on a website called Parkinson’s Disease.net that is written by patients with oversight by a medical and editorial team. In the article it mentioned that people who have problem with nausea when taking their carbidopa-levodopa should avoid acidic and citrussy foods including orange juice. Since my husband does not have a problem taking his meds, we can ignore this advice and move on. See what else they had to say here Foods to Eat and Avoid with Parkinson’s (parkinsonsdisease.net).

What this reminds me is that the internet can be a great resource, but I really need to look deeply and make sure what I find is accurate for my husband. The way his Parkinson’s presents is exclusive to him and what he needs will be just as exclusive. I must always try to confirm anything I find on at least one other website and depend heavily on my main three, the Parkinson’s Foundation, Davis Phinney Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation. I always need to look beyond the basic information to the “why”. Why did they say he shouldn’t drink OJ? Because it might make his nausea from the meds worse. My husband doesn’t experience nausea, so this advice is not for him. He gets to keep his OJ.

Important to note: Anything I find on the internet should always be confirmed with our neurologist, she knows my husband and his particular situation and needs to know about any changes we are considering, no matter how small they may seem to me.