The lemon detox essentially involves eating no solid food for 5-10 days, instead replacing regular meals with 2-3 glasses of the lemon detox drink. There are less extreme variations of the diet but this blog will be analysing the full lemon detox.  

The full body cleanse restricts you from consuming any solid food, instead you drink only the lemon detox drink at meals times (approximately 2 litres per day) and an additional 1-2 liters of water. It also requires drinking a laxative (senna) tea at night and sea salt water in the morning. (Pure Natural Health Australia, 2015)

2 litres of the lemon detox consists of:

140ml of Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup™

3 ½ freshly squeezed lemons (about 140ml)

2 - 3 pinches of the Cayenne Pepper

Approximately 1700ml of fresh or filtered water

The salt water laxative consists of:

1 litre of water

2 tea spoons of sea salt

(Pure Natural Health Australia, 2015)
 

 Nutritional Analysis

 

2LITRES OF LEMON DETOX DRINK		RECOMMENDED DAILY INTAKE (RDI)
Energy	1929kj	Energy	8700kj
Fat	0.28mg	Fat	90mg
Protein	0.98g	Protein	46g
Calcium	36.5mg	Calcium	1000mg
Iron	0.57mg	Iron	18mg
Fibre	0.14g	Fibre	25g
Sodium	1558.2mg	Sodium	460-920mg

 

 

(Food Standards Australia New Zealand, 2014). (Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014). (Healthy Kids Association, 2010, Para.2). (My Fitness Pal, 2015).

The ingredient list clearly falls short of meeting the Australian dietary guidelines, specifically the recommendations regarding the importance of consuming “a wide variety of nutritious foods” (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014, Para.2)  from all five food groups on a daily basis.

These groups are:

1. -vegetables including legumes/beans
2. - Fruit
3. - Grain foods, importantly wholegrain and high fibre cereal varieties.
4. -Lean meats, also poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds.
5.  
6. - Dairy, including mostly reduced fat Milks, yoghurts and cheese.

(National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014, Para.2)

When you compare these recommendations with the ingredients found in the lemon detox diet not only does it immediately contradict the initial advice of consuming a wide variety of foods but it lacks foods from 4 out 5 groups and even then the fruit content of the diet doesn’t satisfy the recommended daily intake for that group. (Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014).

Specifically a more detailed analysis of the nutritional content showed, on a daily basis an average person would only be consuming approximately ¼ of the recommended daily energy intake (Healthy Kids Association, 2010, Para.2), and extremely low amounts of fat protein fibre calcium, all well below the RDI. (Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014). Additionally elevated levels of sodium, nearly twice the RDI were being consumed as a result of the salt water laxative. (Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014).

“Despite its popularity, DAA could not highlight any positive nutritional aspects of this diet.”

(Health Direct, 2015, para.6).

This diet is short term and so are the results. It cannot provide the essential nutrients the body requires to function properly. (Health Direct, 2015, para.8).  There will be an apparent weight loss, but this will be mainly from your body’s important fluid and carbohydrate stores. (Health Direct, 2015, para.7). Severely restricting energy intake will result in the body going into starvation mode and deplenishing muscle. It is not a sustainable method and the body will likely gain back most of the weight lost as soon as you resume eating normally. (Health Direct, 2015, para.7).  

 There does not seem to have any scientific studies confirming its claims and more importantly has some considerably detrimental side effects to the body’s metabolism rate and digestive function as you are essentially starving it for up to 2 weeks. (Health Direct, 2015).  

A much more beneficial sustainable and safer option would be to follow the advice outlined by the Australian guidelines, particularly consuming food from all 5 food groups in moderation and participating in regular exercise. (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014, Para.2)

 

 

 

 

 












 

(National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014).

 

 

 
REFERENCES

SOURCE 1

Pure Natural Health Australia. (2015).Which detox suits you. Retrieved from http://www.lemondetox.com.au/rhowthelemondetoxworks.php

SOURCE 2

National Health and Medical Research Council. (2014). Australian dietary guidelines 1-5. Retrieved from https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-dietary-guidelines-1-5

SOURCE 3

Food Standards Australia New Zealand. (2014). NUTTAB online searchable database. Retrieved from http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/nutrientables/nuttab/Pages/default.aspx

 SOURCE 4

Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. (2014). Nutrients. Retrieved from https://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients

SOURCE 5

Healthy Kids Association. (2010). Promoting and influencing healthy food choices for children. Retrieved from http://healthy-kids.com.au/food-nutrition/nutrients-in-food/what-is-a-kilojoule/

SOURCE 6  

My Fitness Pal. (2015). Calories in Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup (Xarope De Seiva Natural). Retrieved from http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/madal-bal-natural-tree-syrup-xarope-de-seiva-natural-98794246

SOURCE 7

Health Direct. (2015). Health direct Australia. Retrieved from http://www.healthdirect.gov.au/diet-reviews

SOURCE 8

National Health and Medical Research Council. (2014). Australian guide to healthy eating. Retrieved from https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating