Benefits for Blood Sugar Levels, Inflammation, Liver Functioning And Even Beta Cell Regeneration
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Summary: Regularly attending swimming class has motivated me to adopt healthier habits, like drinking lemon water. Lemon water’s health benefits include aiding digestion and combating insulin resistance. However, concerns about tooth enamel erosion from its acidity require careful consideration and dental hygiene practices.
Every week, I take a swimming class. It helps keep me motivated to actually carry on exercise (that’s a BIG win for me!). My swimming teacher is an incredibly energetic and healthful guy. He is always smiling and genuinely thinks that the world is a beautiful place. Gotta hate him right?? Well, actually… No! It’s impossible to hate someone so lovely!
My swimming teacher has been gently persuading (or maybe nagging!) me to improve my overall health in a myriad of ways. One of these ways, and one that he keeps returning to, is drinking lemon water. He starts every morning with a cup of it and really believes it contributes greatly to his energy and health.
Me – being me! – decided to just think about it. For… quite… a… while!! That was, until I did Tony Robbins’ course ‘Unleash The Power Within’ (this is an AMAZING course by the way, which I would recommend to EVERYONE!). Here again, I was told to drink lemon water. Two completely unrelated people in my life are both recommending the same thing… So I sat up and listened this time!
Why Drink Lemon Water?
There are a lot of reasons that lemon water is argued to be good for you. For my purposes, I have focussed on the five reasons that I have decided to make lemons a crucial step in my advancement towards healing:
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1. Citrus lemon (lemon extract) promotes beta cell regeneration in mice with hyperglycaemia. [1]
4. Citrus lemon (lemon extract) decreases blood sugar levels in mice with hyperglycaemia. [1] - 2. Peels of citrus fruits (whether they be lime, orange or lemon) show strong anti-inflammatory effects. [2]
- 3. Essential oils made from citrus lemon peel yields strong antioxidant effects [3]
- 5. Lemon has hepatoprotective factors. In other words, lemon promotes liver functioning and protects it from deterioration and damage. [4] Long-term Type 1 Diabetes can leave you susceptible to liver damage or extra stress on the liver so this is a win!
Sounds like a really good list of reasons to drink lemon water to me!
Steps To Making Perfect Lemon Water
The Perfect Lemon
Always use fresh lemons and organic ones whenever possible to avoid any extra chemicals entering your system.
The Perfect Water: The Right Temperature
It is important when making lemon water that you do not boil the lemon juice, since this will destroy many of the beneficial components within it. Therefore, boil the water for your drink and then let it sit until it is just warm. If you are in a rush, you can also make it with half hot water and half cold water, but make sure to add the cold water first. The water needs to be filtered to avoid any contaminants.
Avoid Lemon Wax
Most lemons these days are coated in wax. This maintains the quality of the lemon skin and makes it more appealing to the eye. However, we do not want to consume this wax. Therefore, I do not advise you to put any lemon skin in your drink. Instead, squeeze the lemon juice only into your cup.
The Perfect Amount Of Juice
This website advises that you use half a lemon in a glass of water if you are under 150 pounds or a whole lemon if you are over 150 pounds. This makes sense to me because the concentration of the juice will obviously diminish with every extra pound of weight. However, I am not yet able to stomach a whole lemon in my water without retching. For now, I am having two cups of lemon water per day, with half of a lemon in each.
The Perfect Timing
Lemon water is best drunk first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. It is then able to aid digestion and help to combat insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels when the first food arrives.
The Perfect Habit
One of the most effective ways I have found to make new habits stick is to tie a new habit to an old one. I come down to the kitchen first thing every morning to grab a glass of water. So, for me, I now grab both the glass of water and then also boil the kettle for my lemon water. It is then just a simple step to make the lemon water and consume!
What About My Teeth?
I have read a few people citing that the acidity in lemons erodes tooth enamel. However, l couldn’t find any conclusive proof either way in academic literature.
I found an old study from 1912 that categorically stated that saliva protects the teeth against erosion from lemons. By contrast, this more recent article by Grando, Tames et al. (1996) and this one by Mathew, Maniangat Luke, et al. (2018) categorically stated the huge erosive effects of lemon juice on teeth. The teeth in both of these studies were shown to erode with increased time in the lemon juice solution. However, these timeframes were considerably long periods of time – 24 hours of more – and I don’t plan to sit with lemon juice in my mouth for any significant period of time!
This dentist is New South Wales, Australia seems to offer a better compromise for me with a series of helpful suggestions to keep your teeth safe. However, the choice to drink lemon juice or not must be a personal one. Diabetics can be subject to a series of dental problems as a result of their condition so the potential risks and benefits for any individual must be weighed.
References:
[1] Mantur, P., Damanik, E. M. B., Setianingrum, E. L. S., and Pakan, P. D. (2022). The effect of lemon extract (Citrus limon) on the blood sugar levels and pancreatic beta cell regeneration in alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice. Acta Biochimica Indonesiana, 1-8.
[2] Malleshappa, P., Kumaran, R. C., Venkatarangaiah, K., and Parveen, S. (2018). Peels of Citrus Fruits: A Potential Source of Anti-inflammatory and Anti-nociceptive Agents. Pharmacognitive Journal. 10(6), S172-178.
[3] El Aboubi, M., Hdech, D. B., Bikri, S., Benayad, A., El Magri, A., Aboussaleh, Y., and El Majoub, A. (2023). Chemical composition of essential oils of Citrus limon peel from three Moroccan regions and their antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic and dermatoprotective properties. Journal of Herbmed Pharmacology, 12(1), 118-127.
[4] Bhavsar, S. K., Joshi, P., Shah, M.B., and Santani, D. D. (2007). Investigation into Hepatoprotective Activity of Citrus Limon. 45(4), 303-311.
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Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie's special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical 'knowledge' and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
