Summer seasonal fruits are on the market in turn. Because it is the peak sales season, the price remains high. However, among this year’s high-priced fruits, lemon, which is usually the most inconspicuous, is also on the list, and the price has risen extremely sharply so far.
Many netizens joked: “Lemons are soaring like gold”, and many lemon products and drinks are also soaring. Why do lemons suddenly become so popular?
I. What happened to this year’s lemon?
Lemon prices have been “flying” all the way this summer. In the past, you could buy several for a few dollars, but now the price has doubled, and the wholesale price even exceeds that of lychees!
According to the National Agricultural Products Wholesale Market Price Information System, the price of yellow lemons has been on an upward trend throughout the country since May. Wholesale prices rose from around 9.5 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year to 14.02 yuan/kg by the end of June. The retail price also increased from 10 yuan/jin to a maximum of 15 yuan/jin.
Many people ask, what happened to lemons this year, and why did the price suddenly soar?
Actually The immediate cause was production cuts , Affected by extreme weather, Anyue, Sichuan, as the main producing area, last year’s drought greatly affected the fruit hanging rate, resulting in a certain decline in market ownership. This year, it encountered another “late spring cold” during the flowering season, and it is expected that autumn production will also continue to decline. The market analysis and early warning team of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs estimates that extreme weather will also occur in lemon-producing areas such as southern Europe and South America this year , global lemon production is expected to decrease by about 6%.
As the global market for lemons continues to be in short supply, the export price of lemons in my country continues to rise, and as export volumes increase, the supply of lemons in the domestic market naturally decreases, which also contributes to the rise in domestic prices.
In addition to the reason for the decrease in lemon production, the growing consumer audience of lemons is also an important contributing factor.
2. Lemon soaked in water has many benefits, how to drink it?
Lemon can be said to be a food with very high nutritional value. It not only contains a variety of vitamins, proteins, dietary fiber, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium trace elements, lemon is also full of treasures, and the peel contains suanhesperidin, gamma-sitosterol, and beta-sitosterol. The leaves are also rich in suanchlorophyll, lutein, and butterfly enzyme flavin.
Many people like to drink some lemonade to cool off in summer, besides having a good taste, it has many benefits for the human body.
Nutritionist Michelle Chevalet Blackie, Sydney, Australia Introduction, Lemonade is rich in vitamin C, you can drink more Improve immunity , and dimension c is okay Promotes wound healing , maintaining bone health while Reduces inflammation “Appearance”; lemon water is also a good digestive food and can stimulate gastric juice secretion Reducing gastrointestinal problems , the cellulose pectin therein is also acceptable Enhance satiety , reduce appetite and avoid overeating.
The University of Busan in South Korea has published relevant research, and experiments can extract from lemon essential oil Effectively lowers cholesterol levels , stabilize blood lipids to avoid atherosclerosis.
The authoritative journal Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism once published a study from Japan, believing that eating lemon every day plus moderate exercise can Effectively reduces systolic blood pressure , the researchers believe that the catechins, phenolic compounds, and flavonoids in lemons play a certain role in stabilizing blood pressure.
In addition to being rich in nutrients, lemonade can also increase the amount of water you drink in summer instead of sugary drinks, which has the effect of saving energy, relieving greasiness and stimulating appetite, and special groups such as pregnant women, children and the elderly can also drink it in moderation. But be aware that no matter how good the lemonade is, it is not suitable for everyone to drink People like “people with stomach or duodenal ulcers, or those with a lot of stomach acid should not drink too much”.
3. Lemon is the king of anti-cancer, and its effect is stronger than chemotherapy?
Previously, there was a saying on the internet “lemons fight cancer”, and there were two main points that were more mainstreamly recognized:
First, lemon soaked in water is alkaline, which can help the acid-base balance after ingestion by the human body, and achieve the purpose of anti-cancer and cancer prevention.
Second, animal experiments have found that antioxidants such as flavonoids and citric acid contained in lemons can improve the body’s antioxidant effect and have a certain effect on fighting cancer;
Obviously the first argument is even more unreliable, the acid-base balance of the human body is controlled by the nerve center, the intake of food pH will not have much effect on the human body, and lemon water is acidic and can easily stimulate gastric acid secretion. Excessive intake may increase gastrointestinal discomfort reactions.
Moreover, the acid-base balance system of the human body is a very precise system. A single quantitative change wants to change the pH in the body, which is tantamount to a cow entering the sea. If it can really be realized, it is the problem.
As for the antioxidant components in lemons do have some effect in antioxidant drinking immune improvement as well as in regulating metabolism, but Sun Ning, head of the nutrition section and leader of the pharmacy science section of the Guangzhou Cadre and Talent Health Management Center It is emphasized that although antioxidant effects are somewhat related to anticancer effects, this association is not causal.
Although it was found in epidemiological studies that the higher the intake of vitamin C, the more beneficial it is to reduce the risk of gastric cancer development, other food disturbances have not been ruled out, and to reach the laboratory vitamin C concentration, it is clearly unrealistic to pass only the meal.
Director of the Clinical Nutrition Department, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center It also reminds that some foods contain related anti-cancer ingredients, which does not mean that eating them can fight and prevent cancer, and there is no evidence that foods have such direct effects.
In fact, no matter what kind of food, you cannot kill cancer cells by relying on a single intake, regulate the structure of your diet, diversify your diet, and develop good living habits. This is a truly beneficial measure to fight cancer.
Disclaimer: All photos used in this blog are generated by artificial intelligence (AI). These images are original creations produced by AI technology and do not depict real people, places, or events. They are provided for illustrative purposes only and cannot be claimed or used as real photographs.
Dr. Ashish Singh is not just a consultant orthopaedic surgeon but a visionary leader in the field. Serving as the Medical Director at Anup Institute of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation in Patna, Bihar, he holds an illustrious academic background with MBBS, MS Ortho, MCh.Orth. (UK), PG Diploma CAOS (UK), and SICOT Diploma Orth. (Sweden).
