Alex Trelinski
SPAIN is one of the world’s biggest consumers of lemons and drinking lemon water brings a variety of benefits with suggestions that it could slow down the formation of kidney stones.
The acidic flavour of lemon makes it ideal for sweet desserts and savoury recipes but a mixture of lemon juice and water has some medicinal benefits.
Lemons are very rich in vitamin C, but the juice also contains vitamin B6, vitamin A, vitamin E, folate, and minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Drinking water mixed with lemon juice helps to take advantage of its antioxidant qualities which also have an anti-inflammatory effect.
Antioxidants scavenge free radicals, reducing cell damage, which could protect against the development of some diseases.
Drinking lemon water is also often associated with some benefits when it comes to treating kidney stones.
It increases the amount of urine produced by the body and therefore reduces the chance of stones being formed.
Some clinical studies indicate that for every glass of lemon water, the probability of having stones is reduced by almost 13%.
This is because the citric acid in the lemon is converted into citrate, which adheres to calcium, therefore preventing it from binding to oxalate, which in turn forms calcium oxalate stones.
Lemon water by virtue of increasing water consumption also improves hydration, but also performance when exercising, relieves fatigue, prevents headaches, and improves the immune and digestive system,
It also has makes human skin less drier and to a certain extent, helps weight loss, because it increases the sensation of the stomach feeling full.
All in all then, the humble lemon certainly seems to have a lot going for it!
