I’m guilty of drinking lemon water during its heyday a few years back. For someone who’s desperate to jump on the weight loss train, lemon water wasn’t a difficult product to sell. It still seems to be on trend now, but definitely not as much as it used to be.
I gave up lemon water just a few days after trying it simply because it was too much work for me and lemons were expensive (I’d rather buy apples or oranges). Also, I was a bit skeptical when it comes to its supposed benefits.
One study showed that lemons contain compounds which “prevent weight gain,” but if you take a good look at it, the study was done on mice. Instead of giving the critters lemon water, they were given a mixture of polyphenols, chemicals extracted from lemons. Lifehacker wrote: “The results were somewhat promising if you remember these weren’t people, they weren’t drinking lemon water, and they weren’t losing weight.” Makes sense.
It’s low calorie, but it won’t detox you
Ian Musgrave, a senior lecturer in pharmacology at The University of Adelaide, told Huffington Post Australia that ‘detox’ is a “mysterious thing.” In fact, Musgrave believes that our bodies alone are doing a superb job of detoxifying on their own. “It’s called the liver,” he said. “It’s chock full of enzymes which take toxins (real toxins), break them down, and excrete them.”
It doesn’t aid digestion, either
Typically, you put a teaspoon of lemon juice into a cup of warm water and chug, so as to get your digestive system going. Sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s no scientific evidence to prove this claim. Indigestion has many causes. “Adding more acid to existing acid is not going to do anything, but it’s probably not going to make it worse,” says Musgrave.
You can stop drinking it for weight loss
Lastly, lemon water doesn’t do much for weight loss. But pectin, a kind of fiber found in lemons, might. It comes from the flesh or pit of the fruit, which means you need to eat a whole lot of lemon before you even see results. Now that doesn’t sound so pleasant, does it? We’re better off eating an apple.
In conclusion, lemon water is nothing but a healthier flavored drink. We won’t stop you if you still want to drink it, of course. But if you’re swigging glass after glass to lose weight, better start looking elsewhere.
Photos courtesy of Unsplash
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