Pineapple

I really like pineapple. Not enough to do this dance, but then not everyone has such smooth moves:

Thank you, husband, for showing this to me so I can stay up to date on viral videos.

Last summer, a relative experienced sinus congestion and pain after eating cheesy pizza. I had some bromelain--an enzyme extracted from pineapple stems--with me, and I'd read about it being helpful for various things. I think I had gotten most of my information about bromelain from this paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529416/. I gave my relative a pill or two of bromelain, and it made her sinus headache go away.

I think I've found a good argument in favor of pineapple pizza, which I enjoy even though many consider it an abomination. If the large quantity of cheese on a pizza can give one a sinus headache, then fresh pineapple with a little bromelain content is a logical addition to pizza.

A positive effect of bromelain on sinusitis symptoms has been found in clinical trials (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17011407). Why does bromelain help with sinus pain? Is it inflammation reduction? (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3870104/) Thinning of nasal mucus? (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25712487) I don't know. I've experienced some relief when I have taken bromelain for sinus congestion and pain, but I don't like to take bromelain much because it seems to make my eyelashes droop into my eyes when I take it, which is annoying. Why would bromelain make my eyelashes turn toward my eyeballs anyway? I'm not comfortable with taking it regularly while all its effects remain unclear.

Plain pineapple, though, I'll happily eat in moderation. A 2014 article out of the Philippines reported that canned pineapple can lower the incidence of viral and bacterial infections in children (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4258310/); this effect seems to have been from vitamins, not bromelain, as bromelain is an enzyme that is denatured by canning (http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/mnstep/activities/35683.html).

We need more research on bromelain to understand its effects on the body.