Is Lemon Water Good For You?

Let’s face it, lemon juice isn’t pineapple juice. Nor is it mango juice or even orange juice or anything else with a distinctive flavour most of us are happy to categorise as delicious and quenching. And worth repeating.

Pure lemon juice is as sour as sour can be and best avoided in its pure, unadulterated form. In other words, it’s best diluted or squeezed over things. Then, and only then, will lemon come to the fore; at least for those of us with normal taste buds.

For most of us, pure lemon juice isn’t our first port of call when looking for a nice, cold drink. They are, however, one of the default warm/hot drinks when we’re a bit stuffed up with a cold.

Restaurants are serving their customers lemon water in increasing numbers. Why? It’s hard to know. Perhaps plain old water isn’t sophisticated enough anymore in a world where everything we can eat and drink is under constant online review by instant experts with million-strong fan bases.

So let’s step away from the fad and analyse the facts as they currently stand. And do realise that the jury is still out on most of this.

Lemon water helps hydration

Nothing surprising here. Water is the hero hydration fluid and has been since fluids were invented. But some people aren’t too fussed with water’s flavour, or lack of it. Hence the addition of a little lemon can add flavour and encourage greater consumption.

Lemon water contains Vitamin C

Lemons contain Vitamin C that can help stave off colds and may play a part in reducing heart issues.

Lemon water can reduce wrinkles

Again, it’s far from a given. What we do know is that Vitamin C is probably good for our skin and water is one of the best ways to stay hydrated and rid your skin of toxins. So the two together – lemon and water – certainly can’t do any harm and may do some good.

Just don’t count on it and keep moisturisers and sunblocks factored into your skin health equation.

Lemon water may help reduce weight gain

Does lemon water burn fat? Well, that’s far from proven. However, a recent study did find that the antioxidants in lemons massively reduced weight gain in high-fat diets.

That said, this particular study was performed on animals, and research is still in the preliminary stages to identify if lemon water affects humans and weight.

So yes, it is a bit of an inconclusive result for lemon water as it currently stands. While lemon water may promote fullness and boost metabolism, it is no better than regular water when it comes to losing fat.

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