Is lemon water good for you? Oftentimes when you visit a restaurant and order water, they’ll ask if you’d like lemon in it.

You may be wondering, what is the purpose or benefit of drinking water with lemon?

While this simple addition to your water may not make a significant nutritional difference in your diet, it can be very beneficial.

What is Lemon Water?

Lemon water is simply adding the juice from a lemon to your regular drinking water.

The amount added depends on the preference of each person.

Some choose to add it for flavor, others prefer it in the morning for a boost of Vitamin C, energy, and metabolism.

Some drink it cold and others drink it warm.

Some squeeze the juice directly into their glass, while others cut slices and add the rind and all.

It can be mixed with other add-ins, including honey, mint, or turmeric.

The Benefit of Drinking Lemon Water

Lemon is a wonderful source of Vitamin C. It also has high contents of flavonoids and antioxidants.

Flavonoids are anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, and anti-carcinogenic.

The flavonoid quercetin is found in lemons and other citric foods and has been shown to suppress the growth of cancerous tumors.

Antioxidants protect cells from damage and can reduce the likelihood of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Studies have also shown that it can also help aid in the treatment of kidney stones.

So, although lemons don't contain many nutrients or minerals necessary for a healthy lifestyle, like potassium and folate, they are a great source for the things listed above.

Clearly, there are many good reasons to consume this drink.

Advantages Of Honey and Lemon Water

Our family personally uses this drink for another purpose.

Anytime someone in my family has a cold or a sore throat, hot lemon and honey water is an easy remedy to help soothe the discomfort.

We simply warm water over the stove, add lemon and honey to a mug, and then pour the warm water over the honey lemon.

This healthy drink works just as well, if not better than, a cough drop.

It's soothing to the throat and is healthier than pharmaceutical cough syrup or cold medication.

When You Should NOT Drink This

While there are many benefits to drinking it, there are times when I believe it should be denied.

From all of the stories we've heard from waitresses and waiters, you probably shouldn't ask for it in a restaurant.

This is because, in many circumstances, the lemons are cut into quarters and set in a bowl.

Multiple hands reach into that bowl for lemons.

Simply for the reason of avoiding numerous germs in your restaurant water, I would recommend not asking for lemon.

Water in restaurants is also straight from the tap and isn’t the cleanest water to consume.

When you have this in a restaurant, you are drinking an unknown amount of germs and toxins.

Stick with drinking it at home, where only you are handling the lemon and where you can have clean Berkey water.

Disclaimer

Is lemon water healthy?

While many studies show there are benefits to drinking this, we are not experts or doctors.

Therefore, we are not making any health claims when it comes to this drink.

Do your own research to determine what you believe about this subject. Discuss it with your doctor as well.