What is the nemesis of "scurvy"? Is lemon an acidic or alkaline food? Will drinking lemon water during the day make you dark? Can it whiten your skin?

Summer is the season when lemons are abundant on the market. Many people like to buy fresh lemons to make lemon water at home, which is healthy and affordable. Lemons contain extremely high vitamin C, and are generally used as a beauty food. So is lemon an acidic or alkaline food? Will drinking lemon water during the day make you dark?

Lemon is a plant of the genus Citrus in the family Rutaceae, also known as ningmeng, yangningmeng, yimuguo, etc. Because of its extremely sour taste, pregnant women with liver deficiency like to eat it most, hence it is called yimuguo or yimuzi. Lemon is rich in citric acid, so it is known as the "citric acid warehouse". Its fruit is juicy and crisp, with a rich fragrance. Because the taste is particularly sour, it can only be used as a high-grade seasoning, used to prepare beverages, dishes, cosmetics and medicines. In addition, lemon is rich in vitamin C, can resolve phlegm and relieve cough, promote body fluid and strengthen the stomach. It is used for bronchitis, whooping cough, loss of appetite, vitamin deficiency, heatstroke and thirst, and other symptoms. It is the nemesis of "scurvy".

Is lemon an acidic or alkaline food?

After lemon is ingested by the human body, its final metabolic products are alkaline, so it belongs to alkaline foods. Lemon water is likewise an alkaline food, and even if honey is added it is still an alkaline food.

Lemon clearly tastes sour, and its pH value is also acidic. The reason it still belongs to alkaline foods is that although lemon contains citric acid, citric acid can be completely metabolized in the body to produce carbon dioxide and water. As carbon dioxide is exhaled from the body, the acidity is eliminated. The potassium, calcium and other ions in lemon, however, remain in the body in the form of metal cations. These ions can combine with acid radical ions and can reduce the acidity of urine, so it is called an "alkaline-forming food". Not only lemon, but the vast majority of fruits are alkaline-forming foods. This point is especially important for patients with gout and hyperuricemia, because when urine is alkaline, uric acid will form salts, which are more easily excreted by the body, reducing the risk of gout attacks.

How to distinguish alkaline foods from acidic foods?

Human foods can be divided into acidic foods and alkaline foods. Judging whether a food is acidic or alkaline is not based on people's sense of taste, nor on the chemical nature of the food dissolved in water, but on the acidity or alkalinity of the final metabolites produced after the food enters the human body.

That is, foods that after digestion ultimately form nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, chlorine, salts and other acid radicals that remain in the body are called acidic foods. Such as: beef, mutton, pork, chicken, duck, fish, grains, etc. Almost all delicious things are acidic, such as: fish, meat, rice, alcohol, granulated sugar, etc., all are acidic foods.

Vegetables, fruits and others contain elements such as potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium. After metabolism in the body they generate alkaline substances, which can prevent the blood from changing toward acidity. Therefore, sour-tasting fruits are generally alkaline foods rather than acidic foods. Chicken, fish, meat, eggs, sugar and others do not taste sour, but they are acidic foods.

Generally speaking, acidic foods weaken the skin, while alkaline foods keep the skin healthy and beautiful. If too much acidic food is eaten, the acidity of the blood increases, the activity of the whole body's blood slows down, and there is a feeling of fatigue.

Conversely, alkaline foods can improve the state of the blood, give the whole body a refreshed feeling, and can prevent and treat dermatitis and other skin diseases that people with weak skin are prone to, and prevent the skin from becoming rough and aging prematurely.

Strongly acidic foods: beef, pork, chicken, tuna, oysters, flounder, cheese, rice, wheat, bread, alcoholic beverages, peanuts, thin sausages, sugar, biscuits, white sugar, etc.

Weakly acidic foods: ham, eggs, lobster, octopus, squid, buckwheat, cream, peas, eel, river fish, chocolate, scallions, macaroni, fried tofu, etc.

Strongly alkaline foods: milk, tea, persimmons, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, spinach, citrus fruits, grapes, taro, kelp, figs, raisins, etc.

Weakly alkaline foods: potatoes, cabbage, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, rapeseed, pumpkin, tofu, apples, pears, bananas, cherries, etc.

When eating acidic foods, especially meat, you must also eat plenty of vegetables. The calcium and potassium in vegetables can neutralize the sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid in meat.

Will drinking lemon water during the day make you dark?

For people who worry that drinking lemon water during the day will make them dark, the answer is: you are overthinking it.

Lemon itself contains photosensitive substances (limonene, coumarins, among which coumarins are the main ones), which is to say that lemon is relatively sensitive to light.

For coumarins to exert a "tanning" effect, three conditions are needed:

1. A special constitution (for example, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus);

2. Long-term sunlight exposure;

3. Intake of a sufficient amount of coumarins.

The coumarin content in lemon is very low. To reach an effective dose, you would have to eat several hundred at once, and with the peel…… A scientist once did a related experiment and reached the conclusion: if your body has no abnormalities, you need to eat three hundred lemons and then sunbathe for three hundred hours before you turn dark!

So, if your skin really does turn dark after drinking lemon water, it may be because you forgot to apply sunscreen.

Can drinking lemon water whiten your skin?

For people who count on lemon water to whiten their skin, the answer is: impossible.

VC is indeed a whitening ingredient loved by major skincare brands, but the vitamin C content in lemon is actually not very high, at 22 mg / 100 g.

Even if you soak one extra-large lemon (about 100 g) in water every day, the VC you take in is not as reliable as eating 100 g of Chinese cabbage (31 mg /100 g).

How is lemon water best made?

Good lemon water should taste light, with a slight lemon aroma. If too much lemon is used, for example one or half a lemon at a time, it may irritate the mouth and stomach, and because the taste is too sour, sugar is needed to neutralize it. To taste sweetness, the sugar content must be at least above 5%, and drinking too much is not good for weight control.

It should be noted that the special aroma of lemon mainly comes from the peel, so it is best to cut it into thin slices with the peel and soak it in water.

One large slice of lemon with peel, soaked in about 600 mL of water, is fragrant and slightly sour but needs no sugar. If necessary, add a few ice cubes, and it is an excellent thirst-quenching drink for beating the heat.

How to store unused lemon?

Although fresh lemon is good, soaking it in water requires only one or two slices, and how to store the rest afterward is an annoying problem. Actually there is no need to worry too much, because lemon has a very high acidity, so it naturally has some preservative function. However, in order to store cut lemon better, you need to pay attention to the following points:

1. Use a clean knife to cut it;

2. Wrap the remaining lemon in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to chill;

3. Use it up as soon as possible, after all, it will not be fresh if left for a long time.