Does Lemon Help You Lose Weight?

On numerous forums, girls discuss cocktail recipes, the composition of diets, as well as other ways to use lemon for weight loss. Scientists believe that it is in vain.

Naomi Campbell and Gwyneth Paltrow think so.

Does lemon help you lose weight?

If you even occasionally read glossy interviews with celebrities, you probably know that they use lemon in their tails and manes.

For example, Naomi Campbell calls a cup of hot water with lemon juice and probiotics a better alternative to morning coffee. Miranda Kerr assures that lemon water at room temperature, drunk on an empty stomach, starts the digestive system and improves metabolism, which helps to fight extra pounds. Gwyneth Paltrow declares that she owes her slenderness and radiant appearance to lemon detox: remove the peel from the pre-washed fruit with a thin layer, pour 200-300 ml of boiling water over it, let it brew for 5 minutes, and drink before breakfast.

On numerous forums, girls discuss cocktail recipes, the composition of diets, as well as other ways to use lemon for weight loss. But the basis of most recommendations is acidified water in one form or another.

How Lemon Water Works 1. You consume fewer calories

If you squeeze the juice of half a lemon into water, the calorie content of such a drink will be approximately 6 kcal. This is significantly less than in moderately sweetened coffee, tea, kefir, yogurt, orange juice, or any other beverage. In addition to clean water, of course.

Replacing even one drink with a glass of lemon water can reduce the daily caloric content of the diet by 100-200 points.

2. You drink more

There are studies that prove: increased fluid intake helps to reduce weight.

In addition, water really accelerates metabolism and the breakdown of fatty tissue. That is why H2O (even without adding lemon) helps you lose weight.

WARNING! Just do not abuse so as not to earn intoxication.

But research on the effect of lemon juice on weight loss has not been conducted.

3. You need less food to feel full

Here, too, the merit is not so much lemon juice as water. It has been proven, for example, that drinking 0.5 liters of liquid some time before a meal makes people eat less by about 13%.

Water with lemon, like ordinary water, helps to fill up with smaller portions.

Is lemon so effective for weight loss?

You probably noticed: the advantages are not so much related to lemon as to water. And it really is.

Lemon, of course, is also useful. For example, its juice and peel are additional suppliers of vitamin C and antioxidants. In addition, there is evidence that citric acid helps prevent the appearance of kidney stones.

However, lemon juice itself does not have any significant and proven effect on weight.

And already in the format of lemon water, the vitamin benefit is doubtful: the concentration of useful substances is too low.

As for the peel, things look a little (just a little!) more optimistic: a 2008 study found that polyphenols found in lemon peels can speed up fat breakdown in obese mice. Sounds promising. However, the fact that peel helps mice lose weight, does not mean at all that it will help people.

However, this does not mean that lemon is useless for weight loss. If you like its taste and it stimulates you to drink more liquid, do not deny yourself the pleasure of squeezing half a citrus fruit into a cup of water. In any case, this will have a good effect on health.

Scientific sources: Lemon juice, raw Nutrition Facts & Calories, source Increased Hydration Can Be Associated with Weight Loss, source Can lemon juice be an alternative to potassium citrate in the treatment of urinary calcium stones in patients with hypocitraturia? A prospective randomized study., source