Green tea and lemon are super potent food that recommended to be consumed daily. They rich in most nutrients and bioactive components that aids in human health. The combination of lemon and green tea will certainly boost the healthy effect to the body. People used to drink lemon water in the morning while other prefer to drink green tea but the question is, why don’t mix them and make a super tonic? We can call it as supertonic since drinking green tea with the addition of lemon will significantly affect the human body function and double the health effects. To know more about this potential benefits of lemon and green tea tonic, better check out following explanation.
Green Tea
As we know that tea (Camelia sinensis) is one of the most consumed beverages in the world after the consumption of water. Tea can be categorized as three types according to its fermentation process that are Green tea (un fermented), oolong tea (partially fermented) and black tea (fermented). From 2.5 million metric tons of dried tea manufactured in the world only 20% is produced as green tea. Green tea is mostly consumed as a popular beverage worldwide, especially in Asian countries such as China, Korea and Japan. In japan green tea is very popular and called as ocha.
Green tea has many health benefits. There is Ancient Chinese Proverb that mentioned it is better to be deprived of food for three days, rather than tea for one. This proverb indicates the importance of tea in the Chinese people life. The Chinese people is common with green tea usage and they have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since long ago or ancient times at about 4000 years ago. In traditional chinese medicine, green tea is an effective cure to treat headaches and depression. The main active components of green tea polyphenols are the catechins, epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) . later the EGCG is known as the most active component in green tea that induce the its healthy effect to the body. The total polyphenols components in green is about 8-12% and green tea also contains other compounds such as gallic acid, kaempferol, quercetin, caffeic acid, myricetin, and chlorogenic acid
Lemon
Lemon is a variant of orange that belongs to citrus family or Rutaceae. It has bright yellow skin and acidic juice. The acid in lemon as well as lime is higher than other types of orange. Lemon has been known as medicine is long ago. Lemon has oval shape with porous skin and pointed tip on the bottom. The lemon tree is native to Asian and it can be used on culinary or nonculinary purpose. Nowadays the top producers of lemon include India, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Peoples Republic of China, United States, Turkey, Iran and Italy. Lemon contains high Vitamin C and other nutrients that can be found in the list below (for 100 gr of unpeeled lemon)
- Energy 121 kJ (29 kcal)
- Carbohydrates 9.32 g
- Sugars 2.50 g
- Dietary fibre 2.8 g
- Fat 0.30 g
- Protein 1.10 g
- Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.040 mg (3%)
- Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.020 mg (1%)
- Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.100 mg (1%)
- Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.190 mg (4%)
- Vitamin B6 0.080 mg (6%)
- Folate (Vit. B9) 11 μg (3%)
- Vitamin C 53.0 mg (88%)
- Calcium 26 mg (3%)
- Iron 0.60 mg (5%)
- Magnesium 8 mg (2%)
- Phosphorus 16 mg (2%)
- Potassium 138 mg (3%)
- Zinc 0.06 mg (1%)
Health Benefits of Lemon in Green Tea
Below are the list of potential health benefits of lemon in green tea that is surprising. Know the benefits well and you can start to consume it
1. Boost weight lost
Get a cup of green tea and lemon in the morning will give kick out your fat and help to reduce your weight. Green tea and lemon are best choice for you who are trying to lose weight and wanted a slimmer waistline. Just brew the green tea and add a slice of lemon inside your cup then add some warm. Drink it every morning. Study show that people who regularly drink green tea and lemon has significant weight lost every month about 10 pounds from its total weight. Purdue University researchers also found that the vitamin C in lemon can increase the level of cathechin inside the body which can be effective in reducing fat cells.
2. Improve immunity
What else can improve your immunity. Both vitamin C in lemon and the EGCG compound in green tea will certainly boost the immune system function and help the immune cells to fight disease.
3. Fight cancer
We can found that cancer rate in countries that loves to drink green tea is commonly low such as Japan. Green tea contains strong antioxidant that know as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which protect the cells from oxidative stress. According to a study that conducted by Hirofumi Tachibana’s teamat Kyushu University in Japan, green tea can protects the body from range of cancers, including lung, prostate and breast cancer due to the presence of EGCG. Plus the vitamin C in lemon, this super tonic will really do proctecting your body from the nightmare of cancer.
4. Inhibit tumor growth
Study also reported that green tea along with lemon can prevent 50% of the tumors from taking hold and significantly inhibit the growth of the tumors in the tissue or body organs. If you are afraid of having tumor, consuming cup of green tea and lemon every morning will provide you with this benefits.
5. Reduce inflammation
Inflammation is commonly happen in the body and the mixture of green tea and lemon will significantly reduce and cure the inflammation.
6. Maintain healthy skin
Green tea and lemon are the ingredients of many skin care product since the have been proven can maintain healthy skin and keep it young. Vitamin C in lemon work together with cathechin or antioxidant in green tea fight the free radicals effect on skin and keep your skin firm.
7. Treat fungal infection
Cathechin in green tea and vitamin C in lemon also have anti-fungal activity that can inhibit the growth of pathogen fungal such as Candida albicans or known as fungi that cause oral and genital infection to human.
8. Prevent cold and flu
Anti-viral activity of green tea and lemon have been proved by many researches. The antioxidant presence in green tea and lemon can slighly inhibit the infection of influenza virus and directly destroy the virus when it enter the body. So if you get symptom of cold better drink a cup of lemon and green tea to relieve the cold.
9. Reduce cholesterol
Based on study which published in Archives of Internal Medicine, green tea is effective in reducing cholesterol level. Adding lemon to green tea will double and boost the effect of cholesterol reduction.
10. Prevent atherosclerosis
Since green tea and lemon can reduce the cholesterol level in the body, they also effective to prevent atherosclerosis or the development of plaque inside arteries wall.
11. Lower the risk of heart disease
Reducing cholesterol, prevent atherosclerosis and other antioxidant function of green tea and lemon will certainly protect the heart and reduce the risk of heart disease. As we know that heart disease is number one killer in the world especially in United States.
12. Prevent HIV
Lemon and green tea are best tonic to prevent HIV infection that can lead to AIDS disease. The EGCG in green tea is effective in binding the HIV and prevent it to infect the cells based on the statement of Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology while the vitamin C in lemon can boost the immune cells function and strengthen the T cells. Tcells are the immune cells which are targeted by HIV.
13. Improve metabolism
Green tea and lemon can improve the metabolism rate and this is why it is effective to burn the calories and fat inside the body. A study which published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that consumption of green tea and lemon can increase daily expenditure until 4%.
14. Prevent diabetes
The EGCG is effective in enhance insulin level in the blood that can prevent the development of diabetes type 2 and treat the diabetes type 1 which caused by lack of insulin. The EGCG increase insulin sensitivity in the body and detecting glucose. It also burn the sugar and block the sugar to be stored as fat. Study also reported that addition of lemon to green tea did not affect the insulin-potentiating activity
15. Prevent tooth decay
Tooth decay is mostly caused by bacteria which live in mouth cavity. Green tea add with lemon can certainly remove this bacteria and prevent from tooth decay.
16. Freshen breath
Researchers at the University of Chicago found that the active compounds in green tea that known as polyphenols help inhibit the growth of bacteria that cause bad breath. Lemon also can double it function by removing the bacteria and resulting in fresh breath.
17. Balancing pH in the body
Lemon is known as the only food that has anionic character which can balance the pH in the body. Adding lemon in green tea will not disturb this effect. A normal pH balance in body will keep the effective metabolism process.
18. Purify blood
Human blood can contains many harmful substance and toxin. Combination of green tea and lemon can be effective to clean the blood from such harmful toxin and waste product.
19. Maintain healthy digestion
Who knows that green tea and lemon can have aid in digestion. Antioxidant and active components of lemon and green tea can soothe the digestion process and improve nutrient absorption.
20. Protect the kidney
As mentioned before that the tonic of green tea and lemon combination can help to purify the blood and it will make the kidney to work better.
21. Relieve stress
Taking warm green tea and lemon after work or after hard activities during the day can help you to relieve stress. The antioxidant and vitamin in green tea and lemon will calm the nerve and promotes good mood.
22. Treat asthma
Asthma is a disorder which happen on respiratory tract due to infection of allergen. Green tea and lemon can prevent the respiratory tract from the infection and soothes the smooth muscle of respiratory tract.
23. Clear the skin
Clean blood will result in clear skin. Dull skin, and acne are sign that the blood contains many toxin and harmful substance. The anti-inflammatory properties of lemon and green tea can be effective to clear the skin from infection such as acne problem.
24. Get rid of coffee habit
Instead of drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, it is better to drink green tea added with lemon. Based on experience, some people who drink green tea and lemon in the morning didn’tt feel coffee or caffein craving.
25. Relieve sore throat
Sore throat can be really annoying and if you suffer from sore throat, try to drink lemon and green tea mixture. It will help to reduce infection in the throat and relieve your pain.
26. Prevent scurvy
As we know that scurvy is mainly cause by lack of vitamin C and infection of bacteria. Green tea and lemon is best combination to prevent scurvy since they contains high Vitamin C and antioxidant that can prevent infection in mouth cavity.
27. Treat sleep disorder
Sleep disorder is common problem for people nowadays due to high stress and tight work schedule. People used to sacrifice sleep then later they build the symptom of sleep disorder. Sleep disorder can be serious thing if its getting overwhelm. If you experience insomnia and cant get sleep soon after you go to bed, try to drink a cup of green tea and lemon. This tonic will calm your nerve and promotes sleepiness.
28. Promotes liver function
Liver is main organ which play important role in detoxify the body from harmful toxin and substance. Green tea and lemon can significantly support liver function and help to purify the blood.
29. Reduce the risk of parkinson disease
Parkinson disease is a disorder that occur in the brain and resulting in muscle tremor, muscle stiffness, losing ability to speak and etc. A cup of green tea also contains between 15–50mg of caffeine which can reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease and it can increase in short-term memory temporary.
30. Maintain Healthy Brain
A study which conducted in Japan showed that elderly Japanese people who consumed more than two cups of green tea a day had a 50% lower chance of brain illness compare to who drank fewer than two cups a day or who consumed other types of beverage. Vitamin C in lemon also can protect the brain cells from free radical effect. So we can say that green tea and lemon is one of the best beverage for brain in the world. Even the EGCG in green tea is twice strionger than resveratrol which usually found in red wine.
31. Reduce the symptom of Arthritis
Arthritis is a problem that affected to joint and causing joint pain. Arthritis is known as symptoms of autoimmune disease and it causing joint inflammation. Anti-inflammatory properties in green tea and lemon can significantly reduce the joint pain in Arthritis patient.
32. Treat Urinary disorder
Green tea and lemon can cleanse the blood and improve urination in the body. The improvement of urine production will cleanse the kidney and urinary tract from waste material and it also effective to clean the prostate of the men from accumulation of calcium.
33. Relieve constipation
The tonic from green tea and lemon can be used to treat constipation since it has laxative effect and can ease the bowel movement through large intestine and promote healthy defecation which can get rid of constipation.
Health risk of drinking green tea and lemon
Until today the only negative side effect reported from drinking excessive green tea is ‘insomnia’ due to the caffeine contents. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee.Green tea also contains vitamin K and may interfere with warfarin medication ( blood clotting medicine in heart disease patient) . Patient which sensitive to caffeine better choose non-caffeinated green tea. While lemon should be consider to be consumed by people who have problem with gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Lemon can cause heartburn to people who used to experience acid reflux and don’t getting used to with the acid content on lemon.
How to Drink Lemon in Green Tea
To get the benefits of green tea and lemon just simply brew the green tea with hot or warm water and add slice of lemon or you can also squeeze the juice of 1/8 part of the lemon in a cup of green tea. Drink this tonic every morning and it will make you stay healthy whole day. Don.t be hesitate to try, just make it and enjoy the benefits.