Are Lemons Fruit or Vegetable?
Whatever your initial inclination, lemons are in fact a type of fruit. Because of their sour flavor, many people think of lemons as a vegetable, but this is incorrect. Lemons are technically categorized as a citric fruit, and belong to the larger family of citrus fruits.
Citric Fruits
Limes, oranges, and grapefruits, as well as some types of tangerines and pomelos, all amass citric fruits. In terms of nutrition, these fruits are a great source of vitamin C, an essential component of a healthy diet. It helps to protect the body, can improve cardiovascular health, and can even improve your skin and hair health.
What Makes Lemons a Fruit?
Botanically, a fruit is anything that contains the seeds of a plant and can be eaten for nutritional purposes. Whereas vegetables are usually grown for leaves, stems, and roots, edible fruits offer nutrients to help the plants reproduce or grow. And lemons contain seeds, along with a juicy, edible, fleshy tissue, thus qualifying them as fruit.
Health Benefits of Lemons
- Potassium helps regulate your blood pressure and heart rate.
- Vitamin C helps protect cells from damage and is necessary for the body to create collagen.
- Vitamin A is an antioxidant which keep organ systems functioning properly.
- Folate is necessary to develop healthy red blood cells and prevents anemia.
In conclusion, lemons are in fact fruits offering an array of beneficial nutrients. Regardless of your opinion, lemons are not a vegetable, and should be incorporated into your diet along with other types of citric fruits.
