By: Jessie Sha
Besides the fact that lemon juice can help prevent kidney stones, I found that lemons have many other benefits to the human body. Many of its good qualities and nutrients come from vitamins, fibers, and plant compounds.
The most common vitamin in lemons is Vitamin C. This is a good antioxidant that is good for preventing cell damage. It also helps your body grow collagen, and absorb iron (for your blood) and it strengthens your immune system since Vitamin C is good for the immune system. Lemons also have a lot of dietary fiber but from only the juice, you won’t get any fiber.
Lemons are also known to be effective for weight loss/management. The pectin fiber in the lemon expands when inside your body. This causes the reaction of feeling full sooner and for a longer period of time. Many times, people will add water to the lemon juice to control their weight. This works just as well as eating a lemon which isn’t good for your teeth since the acid could wear away your teeth.
Lemon juice has properties that are antibacterial and antifungal. They studied lemon juice concentrate and found 3 types of bacteria that inhibit it: salmonella, staphylococcus, and candida infections. Lemon juice also has a specific antibiotic-resistant bacteria that causes things like pneumonia, and infections to the blood.
Lemons also contain a source of nutrients that are called flavonoids. These are another type of antioxidants. This can help prevent protect cells from damage that can cause cancer. However, lemon juice hasn’t been officially studied for cancer prevention in people. Although a healthy diet can help lower the risk, nothing has truly prevented cancer. Lemon juice is also not part of the treatment for cancer. Scientists however have made a recent study that found a nanoparticle in lemon juice that prevented cell reproduction and it activated cancer cell death. This study is still too new to be proven right, but it might have some benefits.
There are also cons to using lemons/lemon juice. One of the most common is enamel erosion which wears your teeth down from too much acid. This only happens if you do it too often or too much at a time. It can also trigger headaches/migraines since it is so high in tyramine. Even so, there are many benefits of lemons/lemon juice as long as you don’t overdose.