The Fruit Of The Week - Lemon

Fruit Information:

The origin of the lemon is a mystery, though it is widely thought that lemons first grew in Southern India, northern Burma, and China. A study of the genetic origin of the lemon reported that it is a hybrid between sour orange and citron. Lemons entered Europe near southern Italy no later than the 1st century AD, during the time of Ancient Rome. However, they were not widely cultivated. They were later introduced to Persia and then to Iraq and Egypt around 700 AD. The lemon was first recorded in literature in a 10th century Arabic treatise on farming, and was also used as an ornamental plant in early Islamic gardens. It was distributed widely throughout the Arab world and the Mediterranean region between 1000 and 1150.

The first substantial cultivation of lemons in Europe began in Genoa in the middle of the 15th century. The lemon was later introduced to the Americas in 1493 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola on his voyages. Spanish conquest throughout the New World helped spread lemon seeds. It was mainly used as an ornamental plant and for medicine. In the 18th and 19th centuries, when lemons were first used widely in cooking and flavoring, they were increasingly planted in Florida and California. - History Of Lemonade 

Fruit Benefits: 

Lemon juice helps to cure problems related to indigestion and consitpation. Add a few drops of lemon on your dish (take care lemon does not go well with milk), and it will aid in difestion. Lemon acts as a blood purifier and a cleansing agent. A good drink post lunch or dinner is fresh lemon soda (also called fresh lime soda in many places). The recipe is add lemon juice, some cold water, soda, salts (common salt or rock salt) and sugar/honey (if you want it sweet), and mix it in a glass. You can also add some mint leaves or crushed fennel seeds for added taste. Drink this whenever you have a heavy lunch/dinner. - Organic Facts 

Lemon, being a natural antiseptic medicine, can participate to cure problems related to skin. Lemon is a vitamin C rich citrus fruit that enhances your beauty, by rejuvenating skin from within and thus bringing a glow on your face. Daily consumption of lemon water can make a huge difference in the appearance of your skin. It acts as an anti-aging remedy and can remove wrinkles and blackheads. Lemon water if applied on the areas of burns can fade the scars. As lemon is a cooling agent, it reduces the burning sensation on the skin. - Life Mojo 

In animal studies and laboratory tests with human cells, compounds in citrus fruits, including lemons and limes, called limonoids have been shown to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon. Now, scientists from the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have shown that our bodies can readily absorb and utilize a very long-acting limonoid called limonin that is present is citrus fruits in about the same amount as vitamin C. In citrus fruits, limonin is present in the form of limonin glucoside, in which limonin is attached to a sugar (glucose) molecule. Our bodies easily digest this compound, cleaving off the sugar and releasing limonin. - Worlds Healthiest Foods

Lemons like oranges contain a variety of phytochemicals. Hesperetin and naringenin are flavonoid glycosides commonly found in citrus fruits. Naringenin is found to have a bio-active effect on human health as antioxidant, free radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory, and immune system modulator. This substance has also been shown to reduce oxidant injury to DNA in the cells in-vitro studies. - Nutrition & You