Lemons are one of the most popular acid citrus fruits according to the Purdue University Horticultural Department. Their origin is unknown, though some horticulturists theorize they come from Northern India.
They were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1493. Today, the leading lemon producers are California, Arizona, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, South Africa and Australia.
The yellow, oval-shaped citrus fruit grows on flowering evergreen trees and is cultivated commercially and in backyard gardens around the world.
Lemons are popular for their signature complex sour flavor. They thrive in mild, warm climates like Mexico, California, and India, and are used to add brightness and depth to all kinds of sweet and savory food and beverages.
The fruit is harvested for its juice and peel. Oil expressed from the peel can be used on its own as an essential oil or even used in cleaning products. It can be harvested during several months of the year with the timing depending on the tree’s geographical location.
This makes fresh lemons available year-round in many parts of the world. The fruit can be dried, candied, preserved, or juiced and used in drinks or to add tang to a wide range of dishes.
Lemons are used in a long list of sweet and savory dishes, from pasta and soup to cake and cocktails. Many people like to showcase the fruit by mixing up a batch of lemonade, lemon curd or sorbet. A lemon meringue pie or tart is always a classic treat, as are lemon bars and lemon bread.
The juice is also commonly squeezed over fish to cut the “fishy taste.”
There’s also an alternative medicine dimension to lemons. Over the past few years, lemon water has become a popular morning beverage in lieu of coffee or tea, with claims that it can boost energy levels and improve metabolism. Some restaurants also routinely serve lemon water.
People who swear by lemon water swear it helps them lose weight. The idea here is that Lemons contain a type of fiber called pectin, which may help reduce appetite and calorie intake.
Lemon juice is also said to aid digestion, in particular, acting as a morning laxative to help prevent constipation. In ayurvedic medicine (one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems), a strong lemon taste is said to stimulate the Agni, which in Sanskrit means “fire.” According to Ayurveda, Agni happens to be the entity that is responsible for all digestive and metabolic processes in human beings. Therefor a strong Agni is supposed to jump-start the digestive system, allowing you to digest food more easily and helping to prevent the buildup of toxins.
Another alleged benefit of lemon water is that it alkalizes the body. According to proponents of the alkaline diet, foods leave an “ash” in the system that influences the pH of a person’s body — that is, how acidic or alkaline it becomes. Proponents of this idea claim that lemon water helps balance pH.
Most diseases, illnesses, and bad bacteria thrive in an over acidic environment.
When pH levels are unbalanced, it is mostly in the case of being too acidic. Generally it’s believed that a healthy pH ration of alkaline to acid should be in the neighborhood of 70 (alkaline) to 30 (acid).
As a source of vitamin C, its advocates point out that lemon water provides valuable antioxidants that help protect cells from damaging free radicals, which may shorten the duration of the common cold in some people as well as lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
There’s even a claim by some that lemon water can help fight cancer. This goes back to the claim that lemon water can alkalize the body and is based on the alkaline diet theory and premise that certain cancer cells cannot thrive in an alkaline environment.
A myriad other claims exist, such as:
- Lemon water helps treat kidney stones
- Lemon water cleanses and detoxes
- Lemon water raises your IQ
- Lemon water promotes hydration
- Lemon water improves your skin
- Lemon water freshens breath
- Lemon water improves athletic performance
Lemons contain citric acid, which can erode tooth enamel – especially in individuals with soft teeth. One way to avert trouble is to avoid brushing your teeth immediately after drinking lemon water when tooth enamel is in a particularly vulnerable acid-softened state.
Another way to lessen the possibility of cavity prone teeth is to drink lemon water through a straw and rinse your mouth with plain water afterward.
The acid from lemon water may also cause heartburn or even gastric reflux in some people despite claims that the citric acid provides relief from heartburn as lemon juice becomes alkaline, reducing acidity in digestion.
Other than that, lemon water is safe to drink, although you can expect increased trips to the bathroom due to drinking more water – which will occur with or without adding lemon juice.
No mystery here. Squeeze lemon juice in a glass of water and drink it. The amount of lemon juice in lemon water depends on the person’s preference, although a teaspoon should be the minimum. People may drink it cold or hot, although there appears to be a disagreement among lemon water supporters regarding this.
Some people also choose to add lemon rind, mint leaf, honey, turmeric, or other ingredients.
How to make lemon water:
One popular method is to pour 8 ounces of filtered water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in. It should be fresh lemon juice.
Some lemon water lovers recommend leaving it out by the sink the night before, so you don’t even have to think about it in the morning.
You can also make a week’s worth in a pitcher and store it in the refrigerator for those hot months.
People normally drink their lemon water first thing in the morning.
Polyphenols are micronutrients that we get through certain plant-based foods. They’re packed with antioxidants and potential health benefits. It’s thought that polyphenols can improve or help treat digestion issues, weight management difficulties, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease and cardiovascular diseases.
One of the main claims about lemon juice is that it can help reduce weight. By and large, human studies have been inconclusive, however, studies with mice have shown that supplementation with lemon polyphenols suppressed body weight gain and body fat accumulation. And, according to A 2017 study of short-term juice-based diets (all of which had lemon juice as a primary ingredient) saw that participants’ intestinal microbiota associated with weight loss had improved, their vasodilator nitric oxide had increased and the oxidation of their lipids had decreased, resulting in improved well-being overall.
Studies confirm that lemon juice may also be beneficial in reducing cardiovascular disease as well as lowering bad LDL cholesterol. It has to do with consuming vitamin C. It is important to understand that while lemons don’t top the list of citrus fruits high in vitamin C, they’re still a good source. The juice of one lemon provides about 18.6 milligrams of vitamin C. The recommended daily amount for adults is 65 to 90 milligrams.
A 2015 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at more than 100,000 people and found that those who ate the most fruits and vegetables had a 15% lower risk of developing heart disease. Those with the highest vitamin C levels in their plasma had even more reduced rates of heart disease.
Scientists theorize that vitamin C may have cardiovascular benefits because it is an antioxidant that protects against dangerous free radicals.
Regarding claims as an anti-cancer agent, all citrus fruits (including lemons) are high in secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, limonoids and coumarins, which are associated with a reduced risk of cancer, including gastric cancer, breast cancer, lung tumorigenesis, colonic tumorigenesis, hepatocarcinogenesis and hematopoietic malignancies, etc.
Researchers Chang and Jia found Ougan (Citrus reticulata cv. Suavissima) flavedo extract exhibited potential anti-tumor effects by its inhibitory effect on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and interfering with the canonical TGF-β1-SMAD-Snail/Slug axis.
The Cosmetological applications of lemons are scientifically grounded due to the empirically verified antioxidant effects of lemon extracts. For example, vitamin C from lemons is used as an ingredient in specialized dermo cosmetics. Its external use has been shown to increase collagen production, which makes the skin smoother and more tense. It is used in anti-aging products, to reduce shallow wrinkles, and as a synergistic antioxidant in combination with vitamin E.
Additionally, lemon’s essential oil has demonstrated proven benefits for use in formulations of shampoos, toothpaste, disinfectants and an assortment of topical ointments.
In regards to improving digestion, studies have shown that D-limonene increases gastric motility and causes a reduction in nausea, neutralization of stomach acids, and relief of gastric reflux. However, it’s likely that more than the lemon’s juice is necessary to make a significant impact on gut health. Lemons have a high concentration of a fiber called pectin, a prebiotic.
Prebiotics are compounds in food that induce the growth or activity of beneficial microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. The most common example is in the gastrointestinal tract, where prebiotics can alter the composition of organisms in the gut microbiome. Pectin, the prebiotic in lemons has been shown to assists good gut health by feeding healthy gut bacteria, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (PMC). But in order to get this health benefit, it may be advantageous to consume more of a juiced lemon including its rind and all.
One often overlooked proven benefit of lemon water is its propitious impact on breaking up kidney stones. An important study in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) recounts how lemons can increase urine output and decrease kidney stones because they contain large amounts of citric acid:
“Citrate is a naturally-occurring inhibitor of urinary crystallization; achieving therapeutic urinary citrate concentration is one clinical target in the medical management of calcium urolithiasis. When provided as fluids, beverages containing citric acid add to the total volume of urine, reducing its saturation of calcium and other crystals, and may enhance urinary citrate excretion.”
Without question, there are health benefits from drinking lemon water, although they may not be as profound as health benefits from, say, ginger. Many of the health claims such as improved athletic performance, promoting hydration, raising your IQ and acting as a detoxing agent may not be from the lemon juice so much as the water that makes us feel better due to the importance of keeping our bodies well hydrated.
Also, remember, your body has a really good detoxification system, it’s called the liver. It’s chock-full of enzymes which take toxins (real toxins), break them down and excrete them.
That said, lemons (especially parts of the whole lemon such as the pulp and rind) have proven benefits in the areas of digestion, cardiovascular health, anti-aging aspects regarding the skin and in improving urinary health.
As an anti-cancer agent, just about all fruits (including citrus) and vegetables can help reduce the risk of certain cancers.
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