Lemon is an extremely interesting fruit for health: very low in calories (with around 28 Kcal per 100 g), it contains only 2% sugar compared to an average of 10-12% for other fruits.
Furthermore, lemon is a champion of vitamin C with almost 45 mg of the precious antioxidant per 100 g; finally, there is also a good quantity of vitamin B9 (28.40 µg per 100 g). In short, no reason to deprive yourself of it!
Lemon juice: is it really beneficial to drink it every day?
In recent years, a “well-being trend” has been touting the virtues of drinking lemon juice in the morning, on an empty stomach, when you get out of bed. This “miracle drink” would accumulate the benefits: it would make it possible to lose weight, to detoxify the organism, to be in a better mood, to have beautiful skin, etc.
What is it really ? We asked the question to Nathalie Négro, dietitian-nutritionist: “drink a lemon juice a day, yes, it’s good for your health. This brings vitamin C to the body (100 ml of squeezed lemon provides about half of the recommended daily intake, which is 100 mg per day for an adult) as well as organic acids which help digestion. So it’s not a bad habit, far from it..”
But for the specialist, the benefits of lemon juice stop there. “We cannot expect any slimming or detox benefits from it!” she emphasizes.
The mixtures offered on social networks, for their part, are no more interesting for health or for the figure: we think of the mixture of baking soda + lemon juice (seen on TikTok), coffee-lemon (same) or even with dirty soda (an infamous preparation made from coke, coconut cream and lemon juice… another TikTok idea).
How to consume lemon juice daily? The best thing is (of course) to squeeze your own lemons by choosing organic and (if possible) locally produced fruits. “For people who have difficulty drinking water, lemon juice can add flavor to a carafe of still or sparkling water, at the rate of 1 squeezed lemon for 1 L of water. Don’t add sugar!” recommends the dietitian-nutritionist.
Another idea: add a dash of lemon juice to your morning tea or evening herbal tea to enhance its flavor. In cooking, lemon juice obviously goes well with most white fish (you can even use it to make a butter sauce, a little high in calories but so delicious!) and goes wonderfully in a traditional chicken curry, to give it a little twist.
Do you drink lemon juice every day? Watch your teeth!
Warning: if it is indeed very interesting for health, lemon juice can harm oral health. In the long run, drinking a squeezed lemon every morning before breakfast can lead to irreversible erosion of the enamel, the surface coating of the teeth. The key: increased dental sensitivity and a greater risk of viral or bacterial infection…
The advice of dentists? If you want to drink lemon juice every morning, invest in a stainless steel or bamboo straw, and rinse your mouth after drinking. On the other hand, wait (at least) 30 minutes before brushing your teeth so as not to further weaken the dental enamel.
Thanks to Nathalie Négro, dietician-nutritionist and head of the Nutritional Center of Baths of Brides-les-Bains.
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