There aren’t really any, other than it if makes you drink more water.
🤷🏼♀️ 🍋
Let’s look at the claims vs the science:
𝟏. “𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧”
Lemon juice can increase bile-acid secretion, BUT it’s effect on digestion is currently unproven. Your body knows what it’s doing, and will release the correct amount of bile acid needed - if it doesn’t then chances are it’s a bit more serious than drinking a glass of lemon water (1)
Fibre is good for digestion, but to claim that lemon water contains fibre is fairly bold unless you’re willing to eat the whole lemon - peel included…
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝟐. “𝐈𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭-𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬”
It does not.
People lose weight on ‘detoxifying weight loss plans’ because they’re eating sweet fuck all, and drinking lemon water in between. It’s not the lemon water. It’s the lack of calories.
It’s also well proven that if older adults drink water before a meal, they consume less during that meal (2)(3). But water or lemon water - there’s no difference.
(One experimental study has shown lemon peels increase beta-oxidation of fatty acids and prevent obesity - it was done on mice. Are you a mouse? No. You are not (4))
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳.
𝟑. “𝐈𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲”
The claims that lemon water can detoxify your body show a HUGE misunderstanding of human physiology. There are some tiny plausible relations, but these are rarely ever backed by solid evidence.
Two studies have found that limonene (molecule in lemons), and sulforaphane (in cruciferous veg) have an effect on detoxification enzymes within the liver in rodents (5)(6). BUT - once again YOU ARE NOT A RODENT. And there is no clear study to show how lemons aid human detoxification processes.
𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘵 (𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦)
(1) Cherng SC, et al. Acceleration of hepatobiliary excretion by lemon juice on 99mTc-tetrofosmin cardiac SPECT. Nucl Med Commun. (2006)
(2)Van Walleghen EL, et al. Pre-meal water consumption reduces meal energy intake in older but not younger subjects. Obesity (Silver Spring). (2007)
(3) Davy BM, et al. Water consumption reduces energy intake at a breakfast meal in obese older adults. J Am Diet Assoc. (2008)
(4) Fukuchi Y, et al. Lemon Polyphenols Suppress Diet-induced Obesity by Up-Regulation of mRNA Levels of the Enzymes Involved in beta-Oxidation in Mouse White Adipose Tissue. J Clin Biochem Nutr. (2008)
(5)Yoshida K, et al. Broccoli sprout extract induces detoxification-related gene expression and attenuates acute liver injury. World J Gastroenterol. (2015)
(6)Reicks MM, Crankshaw D. Effects of D-limonene on hepatic microsomal monooxygenase activity and paracetamol-induced glutathione depletion in mouse. Xenobiotica. (1993)
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