# lemons and livers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170 "2013-01-05T16:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dmdrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@dmdrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmdrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/1 "2013-01-05T16:28:01Z")
I found this on a site called ‘Young and Raw’ for vegans. I am interested to know if this is true or not, “Lemon is so cleansing for the body, it also happens to be very alkaline, bringing your body into a friendly and harmonious state. Drinking one cup of lemon juice for 90 days straight will heal any liver problems.” Thank you for your time, Donna Drew ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/2 "2013-01-05T16:31:17Z")
Lemon is not alkaline, for a start. It’s quite acidic. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/3 "2013-01-05T16:36:02Z")
Lemons contain citric and ascorbic acid. Not remotely alkaline! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/4 "2013-01-05T16:38:06Z")
Any claim that a single food/fluid can cure a wide range of conditions or illnesses is total bullshit. Liver cancer(which in itself can have a multitude of causes) and cirrhosis of the liver (ditto) are two very different conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/5 "2013-01-05T16:38:13Z")
Sounds suspiciously like woo to me. As others have pointed out lemon is very acidic, not alkaline. The fact that basic point is wrong should be very revealing. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/6 "2013-01-05T16:39:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Lemon is not alkaline, for a start. It’s quite acidic. Right. And, for the record, everything else in that statement is idiotic as well. For one thing, [what you eat doesn’t affect your blood’s pH](http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/alkaline-diets-what-to-know). Really, it’s easy to understand: Your stomach contents are extremely acidic, with a pH typically around 1.35-3.5, something that would be very harmful to the rest of you _if your stomach pH was allowed to determine blood pH_. It isn’t. Your body maintains acid-base homeostasis to keep your blood pH in the 7.35 to 7.45 range, or slightly alkaline. Since your liver isn’t in your stomach, the pH of your diet can’t affect it. Therefore, drinking lemon juice to cure liver disease is idiotic. There’s no other word for it. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/7 "2013-01-05T16:40:40Z")
Just went an looked at that page. Just Say No. NOT good information there, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![dmdrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@dmdrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmdrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/8 "2013-01-05T18:51:42Z")
Thank you all for your responses. I guess I was having wishful thinking. haha. I knew lemon juice is acidic. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/9 "2013-01-05T18:55:13Z")
A cup of lemon juice a day? For me, at least, that would lead to a huge amount of stomach distress. I occasionally have cocktails that contain fresh lime or lemon juice, and I know if I have more than 1, I’m going to have acid stomach the next day. I can’t imagine what a whole cup would do. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/10 "2013-01-05T19:06:24Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > As others have pointed out lemon is very acidic, not alkaline. The fact that basic point… Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/11 "2013-01-05T19:11:14Z")
I hear drinking vinegar is a good way to make your body less acidic too. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/12 "2013-01-05T19:29:01Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I hear drinking vinegar is a good way to make your body less acidic too. And I occasionally hear a really loud fart when I eat a lot of broccoli. Guess which sound is worth paying attention to. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/13 "2013-01-05T19:40:01Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I hear drinking vinegar is a good way to make your body less acidic too. Drinking acid makes your body less acidic. I’d love to see a woo website’s justification for that. It would make for a nice assignment for middle schoolers on bad science, anyway. On a more technically correct note, I hear injecting lye directly into your veins makes your blood less acidic, too. To be fair, it wasn’t claimed this would lead to any actual health benefits. Quite the reverse, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/14 "2013-01-05T19:51:05Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Drinking acid makes your body less acidic. Yep. And I also hear that if you consistently eat enough calories, your body will learn to start creating negative calories to negate those calories already consumed and you get _ **sexified!** _ ---
**Author:** ![dmdrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@dmdrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmdrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/15 "2013-01-05T20:01:32Z")
The woman is defending this claim, saying this is true with this stupid you tube video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WndFDIa6a0s/hqdefault.jpg "Lemon Water: Why is Lemon Water Alkaline?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WndFDIa6a0s) which talks about lemon water, not ONE cup of lemon juice a day. ---
**Author:** ![dmdrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@dmdrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmdrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/16 "2013-01-05T21:41:19Z")
They continue to defend this absurdity on their website - all up in arms because I questioned the claim they are making - crazy! ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/17 "2013-01-05T21:48:34Z")
Lemon juice in those quantities isn’t friendly to your dental enamel either. Because it is, you know, very acidic. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/18 "2013-01-05T22:01:36Z")
When I once pointed out that lemon juice was acidic, not alkaline, I was told that while it’s acidic in the glass, it makes your \*body \*more alkaline through…some alchemy that was not explained to me. I used to hang out with lots of these people. They made my head hurt. I think it was from doing this all the time: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/19 "2013-01-05T22:16:03Z")
Oh goodie—I can start drinking again. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170/20 "2013-01-05T22:31:16Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > Ha! I’m not sure what you mean by that. Are you taking issue with what I said in the post you quoted or was there something else on your mind? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lemons-and-livers/646170.md?page=2)