Drinking lemon water is all the rage on social media, where it is associated with all kinds of healing promises, from anti-aging to longevity. But does it really work? IMAGE: ©mykytvoandr | Stock.Adobe.com

Lemon water in the morning – your daily kick of vitamin C

Lemon water consists of 2 simple ingredients:

• 1 glass of warm water
• Juice of half a lemon

Drink it in the morning on an empty stomach and it directly serves 2 trends. 1. drinking warm water (because warm water is considered better for your body than hot or cold) 2. sugar-free vitamin intake

How much vitamin C do you need every day?

The amount of vitamin C you need depends on your age, gender and lifestyle. Here you can find the reference values for vitamin C from the US National Institute of Health. The general recommendation for adults is “105.2 mg/day for adult males and 83.6 mg/day for adult females.”

Vitamin C deficiency diseases

Vitamin C deficiency is virtually non-existent in western industrialized countries. When my grandmother was very old, she only ate rice and cookies. My father then worriedly asked the doctor whether she might get scurvy from this type of diet. “Oh no,” he waved him off. If she only drank a glass of orange juice once a week, this would already be prevented.

He was probably relying on the following calculation: 1 glass (0.2) of orange juice contains around 100 mg of vitamin C. That is the daily requirement. To prevent deficiency diseases such as scurvy (the old seafarer’s disease), 10 mg of vitamin C per day (or a glass of orange juice every 10 days) is enough.

Does lemon water cover the vitamin C requirement?

Half a lemon contains around 20 – 25 mg of vitamin C – so a glass of lemon water covers around a fifth of your daily vitamin C requirement.

This gives you a full start to the day. In addition to citrus fruits, many other foods also contain vitamin C, e.g. potatoes and tomatoes. Many foods and drinks are also enriched with vitamins, e.g. fruit sweets or muesli mixes. However, it is healthier not to eat processed foods.

What are the benefits of drinking lemon water every day?

• Water intake for the body
• A tasty drink that is virtually calorie and sugar-free
• Vitamin C
• You become part of a lifestyle trend and are in the company of many tiktokers (if that’s not even a reason why we do many things) 🙂
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has approved 13 health claims for vitamin C. It supports collagen, the immune system, is an anti-oxidant and helps with the absorption of iron.

How sustainable is lemon water?

It all depends on where you live. Here in Jerusalem, almost every house in the street has a lemon tree in front of the house. In the Northern Hemisphere, on the other hand, lemons often have long transportation routes behind them, which is why some restaurateurs who rely on import autonomy are already doing without lemons.

It is best to buy organic lemons that have been transported as little as possible. There are also many other sources of vitamin C. For example, strawberries will soon be growing in many countries!