Lemons. Typically, if you eat out at a restaurant, you get a slice of lemon in your water. If you are like me, it is just one of those things and you don’t even think about it much.  I’ve been thinking a lot about lemons lately and of course, I wanted to tell you all about it, or rather, them.

Lemon juice raises the level of citrate in the body, which may help in fighting kidney stones. Note: other citrus does not have this effect. In fact, grapefruit juice has the opposite effect and should be avoided if you are prone to kidney stones.

Kidney stones form when urine in the kidneys becomes supersaturated with stone-forming salts, and when the urine doesn’t contain enough stone-preventing substances. One of these substances is citrate. For people prone to stones, doctors typically prescribe potassium citrate in pill or liquid form.  Lemon juice is full of natural citrate. When added to water, or when made into low-sugar lemonade, lemon juice increases the amount of citrate in the urine to levels known to inhibit kidney stones. Be sure to include some grated lemon peel to your lemon water / lemonade. It is important to be cautious with sugar since it can increase kidney stone risk.  I squeeze an entire lemon into my 32 oz. tumbler of water every morning and I toss the lemon into the tumbler as well after squeezing out the juice. It’s super easy to do this every morning.

Beyond the benefit for fighting kidney stones, lemons have other health benefits.  Lemons are a great source of Vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory agent.  For that reason along, lemons are worth adding to your diet.  But! Lemons have also been found to have two other compounds – a group of chemicals called limonoids and limonene, both of which have documented anti-cancer properties.

Limonene is found in the peel and has been shown in studies to be chemopreventive against mammary, liver, lung and UV-induced skin cancer and chemotherapeutic against mammary and pancreatic tumors.  A study from the University of Arizona concluded that when lemon peel is consumed with hot black tea, the risk of skin cancer is reduced by 30 percent. According to researchers, consumer 1 tablespoon a week of grated peel is all you need to make a significant difference. The limonoid in lemon, limonin, seems to be able to lower cholesterol.

The simple Lemon has so many health benefits. Lemons are easy to find year-round and it takes no time to add some to your water or hot tea. So why not add them to your bag of health tricks?  As always, prevention is the absolute best medicine.

STAY healthy. Be STRONG. Get AFTER It.