Benefits of Lemon Tea – Sweet and refreshing lemon tea can always freshen the throat. However, are there any health benefits to drinking lemon tea? Before discussing the benefits of lemon tea, it’s a good idea to know the nutritional content of this healthy drink.
Nutritional Content of Lemon Tea
One fresh lemon contains various nutrients, such as:
- Calories: 10.3 cal
- Protein: 0.16 grams
- Fat: 0.1 grams
- Carbs: 3.2 grams
- Fiber: 0.14 grams
- Sugar: 1.2 grams
Meanwhile, lemon juice is a source of vitamins and minerals, such as:
- Vitamin C
- Folate
- Potassium
- Lutein
- Phosphor
Potential Benefits
Don’t hesitate to drink lemon tea because it has various health benefits.
1. Help Meet Antioxidant Needs
Lemon tea provides the body with lots of antioxidants, such as vitamin C, and phytochemicals, such as caffeine and chlorogenic acid. Not only that, according to plant research, lemons are rich in other antioxidants, such as:
- Ascorbic Acid
- hesperidin
- Naringin
- Ferulic acid
Antioxidants are substances found in food that help prevent DNA changes and cell damage from free radicals and oxidative stress.
Eating and drinking antioxidant-rich drinks such as lemon tea helps delay premature aging and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. The reason is that lemon contains flavonoids, which are very beneficial for the health of the body, such as:
- Fight free radicals
- Has an anti-inflammatory effect
- Reducing the risk of brain disease as well as other degenerative
2. Maintain Body Strength
One lemon offers about half of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C. That way, lemons help support the immune system to fight bacterial and viral infections that cause disease.
However, to feel the benefits, you should combine it with honey, which also has an anti-inflammatory effect. That way, the combination of honey and lemon tea can have a good effect on the body.
3. Lowers Blood Pressure
According to WebMD, the flavonoids in lemons help lower blood pressure. Additional research also suggests that these effects may improve heart health,
You can get multiple benefits from lemon tea if you drink it after exercising. It’s no secret that exercise helps control high blood pressure, strengthens the heart, and reduces stress.
4. Has Anticancer Substances
As previously mentioned, lemon is rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants work by preventing cell damage that can cause various chronic diseases, such as cancer.
Quercetin is one of the antioxidants in lemon that inhibits the growth of cancer cells in several types of cancer.
Among others are:
- Ovarian cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Breast cancer
- Kidney Cancer
5. Reducing the Risk of Diabetes
Lemon contains a natural compound called hesperidin. This compound can lower blood sugar levels to help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. In addition, the citric acid in lemons also slows down the conversion or change of starch into sugar.
When the process is slowed down, it helps reduce your blood sugar burden and helps manage your weight so you don’t gain it easily. Because obesity or excess body weight is one of the risks of diabetes.
In addition, in the Antioxidant Journal, drinking tea, especially black, green, and oolong tea are also mentioned as helping reduce the risk of diabetes mellitus. Therefore, you can make lemon tea from black, green, or oolong tea to add to its health benefits.
6. Increase Body Energy
Did you know that another benefit of lemon tea is that it increases body energy? Tea, especially green tea, is a natural source of caffeine that can stimulate the nerve center to help increase one’s energy, just like coffee.
In the journal Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, caffeine helps improve alertness and cognitive and physical function. Green tea and lemon blends contain less caffeine than coffee or energy drinks. Therefore, this can be an alternative drink that is suitable for those who are sensitive to the effects of high doses of caffeine.
7. As a Natural Diuretic
Lemon also contains citric acid, which is a natural diuretic that can reduce excess water retention in the body. Not only that, but citric acid also improves urinary tract health and prevents kidney stones.
A study also found that citric acid can increase the body’s absorption of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus.
8. Heals Gum Inflammation
The next benefit of lemon tea is that it can cure gingivitis. The high levels of vitamin C and citric acid in lemon tea, combined with its pain-relieving and soothing properties, make this drink an effective home remedy for treating swollen gums.
9. Improves Heart Health
Plant flavonoids that are intrinsically present in lemons, such as hesperidin and diosmin, can lower cholesterol. In addition, sipping a cup of warm lemon tea every night can prevent heart disease and stroke and is thought to improve heart health.
10. Improves Skin Health
The fourth benefit of lemon tea is that it improves skin health. Lemon tea is also packed with astringent properties, which work to remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate your face. Additionally, this tea has anti-inflammatory properties, which effectively combat acne and eczema and ultimately improve the overall health of the skin.
11. Improves Digestive Function
The third benefit of lemon tea is that it helps digestive function. Lemon tea contains only a small proportion of carbohydrates in the form of simple sugars and dietary fiber. This fiber works to slow down the processing of simple sugars, thus improving gut health and regulating metabolism. Sipping a cup of lemon tea after a heavy meal is thought to improve digestion.
12. Detoxify the Body
The second benefit of lemon tea is that it helps detoxify the body. The content of citric acid in lemons is very high, so it can help purify the liver, according to the netmeds.com site. Consuming lemon tea on an empty stomach in the morning will help flush out all the waste and toxins that have accumulated in the liver and thereby detoxify the body completely.
Side Effects If Consumed in Excessive
Everything in excess is certainly not good. Therefore, drink lemon tea naturally. For instance, three times per week. Even then, you need to pay attention to the amount of sweetener. Try to drink lemon tea without artificial sweeteners such as sugar.
You can use natural sweeteners like honey to help get rid of the sour taste in lemon tea. The reason is that if you use sugar in large quantities, the benefits of lemon tea are replaced by the dangers that exist.
Yes, the risk of increased blood sugar can increase, and instead of reducing the risk of diabetes, it will increase it. In addition, drinking lemon tea in excess can also cause side effects, such as:
- It makes acid reflux worse in people with GERD, irritates the stomach, and causes nausea
- Damage to teeth because the acid content in lemon is very high
- Trigger canker sores or irritate canker sores
- Drinking lemon tea while taking certain medications might have a negative interaction
Beware of consuming tea mixed with lemon every day.
The reason for this is that the side effects of drinking tea with lemon are not to be taken lightly.
1. Not safe for pregnant women
Pregnant women are advised not to drink tea with lemon because it contains caffeine. Excessive consumption of lemon tea may result in miscarriage or other severe side effects.
2. Not safe for breastfeeding
Mothers who breastfeed their babies should also avoid tea and lemon. It may be refreshing, but the caffeine from the tea will mix with the breast milk and could harm the baby.
3. Tooth erosion
People who like to consume tea with lemon show signs of tooth enamel erosion. Tea plus lemon can be a silent killer for tooth enamel, leaving your teeth vulnerable to acute pain and sensitivity to sharp temperature changes.
4. Heartburn
Excessive consumption of tea plus lemon can change the pH level of the stomach and intestines. This can cause acid reflux, where acid from the stomach moves into the esophagus. This can cause heartburn and, sometimes, vomiting.
5. Dehydration
In extreme cases, lemon acts as a diuretic. That means triggering dehydration in the body because you often want to urinate. Drinking tea with lemon quite often can prove harmful and can lead to dehydration in the body.
6. Thrush
Too much tea plus lemon can irritate the mucous membranes and potentially cause canker sores.
7. Osteoporosis
Tea plus lemon secretly removes a lot of calcium from the body through urine, which can cause osteoporosis. So for those of you who have a history of osteoporosis, you should not consume it!
8. Absorbs aluminum
When you add lemon to tea, the aluminum present in the tea gets absorbed into the body, which is not the case when drinking regular tea.
This adsorbed aluminum can cause toxicity in the body, which can lead to encephalopathy, osteomalacia or aplastic disease, proximal myopathy, an increased risk of infection, increased left ventricular mass, decreased myocardial function, very high rates of microcytic anemia, and even sudden death.
9. Alzheimer’s
Drinking lemon tea has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease in studies. Frequently drinking tea with lemon can lead to the accumulation of plaque in the brain, which has been linked to the emergence of Alzheimer’s.
10. Stomach problems
For some people, drinking tea with lemon can cause stomach pain, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and even ulcers. Don’t drink more than one cup a day, and if possible, avoid drinking it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
If you feel symptoms of tooth sensitivity, stomach pain, or nausea, you can rest and consult a doctor thoroughly about the benefits of tea plus lemon and its side effects.
Remember, the best treatment is prevention done early.
