Lemons

This article is part of a larger article titled "100+ Healthiest Foods On Planet Earth."  Read it here.

The lemon is a citrus fruit used worldwide for its distinctive bitter taste. With the juice, pulp and rind all available for use, the lemon is a versatile fruit used for a variety of purposes: the juice is used for everything from lemonade to salad dressing, the pulp used for smoothies, and the rind used in all kinds of baking. Although we don’t recommend eating lemon drizzle cake every day, there is certainly a haul of health benefits in lemons. Low calorie, with huge health significance for a number of the most common causes of mortality, and with strong anti-microbial effects, lemon is a unique health food.

Nutritionally, as with many fruits, lemons are low calorie, high in vitamin C, and high in fibre. 100g of lemon contains just 29 calories, but for that you get 88% of your Daily Value (DV) of vitamin C, 11% DV of dietary fibre, and 5% DV of vitamin B6. The high water and fibre content make it a virtually calorie free addition in many cases. The high levels of vitamin C, fibre and B6 are great for everything from the immune system to blood to digestion, so that’s a lot of benefit for only a few calories.

Lemons have a number of interesting health benefits: they prevent the spread of cancer, reduce the risk of stroke, and have a strong anti-microbial effect. Citrus fruit has been proven to have a broad effect on cancer proliferation, and lemons have an impact on tumour growth. Those two broad brush benefits belie the fact that lemons have a strong cancer fighting impact. In general, intake of citrus fruits also seems to be associated with a lower risk of stroke. With cancer and strokes being so high up on the causes of mortality in the developed world, it’s an interesting thing that something as common as lemon can make a real difference. Finally, lemon has been researched due to its anti-fungal effects.