Superfoods: Lemons

Lemons are renowned for their tart flavor and fresh, clean scent.

Lemons may help with weight loss. In one human study, pre-menopausal women with a high body mass index (BMI) followed a lemon detox diet for seven days. These women experienced greater improvements in insulin resistance, body fat, BMI, body weight, and waist-hip ratio than those on other diets.¹

And a recent study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that drinking acidic beverages like lemon juice with starchy food like bread could reduce their glycemic impact.² Specifically, the lemon juice lowered the mean blood glucose concentration peak by 30% and delayed it more than 35 minutes.

Lemon could also beneficially impact blood pressure, with one study showing that women who walked daily and consumed lemon juice had lower systolic blood pressure than those who didn’t.³

And although there are no studies proving this, Ayurvedic medicine touts drinking lemon water in the morning to get your digestive system moving and prevent constipation.

Lemons are simple to incorporate throughout your day. You can squeeze fresh lemon juice onto fish or chicken dishes, add it to salads along with olive oil, or put it in a smoothie. Also consider adding lemon peels to drinking water for added flavor and nutrition.

References

1. Nutr Res. 2015 May;35(5):409-20.
2. Eur J Nutr. 2021 Feb;60(1):113-22.
3. J Nutr Metab. 2014;2014:912684.