Lemon Oil: Effect and Application

Not everyone uses lemon oil, although it offers many advantages. You can find out everything about its effect and application here.

Lemon oil: What is it?

• Lemon oil is pure essential oil, which is extracted from the peel of lemons. The lemon played an important role in China long before the birth of Christ and was cultivated intensively. It was not until much later that it found its way to Europe, where its fresh and tangy scent quickly became convincing.
• Lemon oil is also very popular as a health-promoting agent due to its many valuable ingredients, such as vitamins and minerals. The oil can be used both on the skin and in the kitchen.

Lemon oil: Preparation

Homemade lemon oil is made with lemons and a good cooking oil (see instructions below). Industrially produced oil is obtained by cold pressing the peel.

Important ingredients

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin K
• Vitamin B
• Potassium
• Sodium
• Magnesium
• Phosphorus
• Iron
• Zinc
• Copper
• Manganese
• Selenium
• Folic acid

Nutritional values

• Calories: 21.6 kcal
• Fat: 0,3 g
• Protein: 1,3 g
• Carbohydrates: 11.6 g

Lemon oil: Effect

Many positive effects are attributed to lemon oil. First of all, the oil contains all the ingredients of a lemon. Especially the high amount of vitamin C stands out. The bioflavonoids found in the white skin of lemons protect the body cells from free radicals.

In extreme cases, these radicals can be partly responsible for diseases such as cancer or heart attacks. However, there is no clear scientific evidence yet to what extent citrus fruits have an effect on the risk of cancer.

As a good grease remover you can use or buy lemon oil perfect for cleaning products. The consumption of lemon oil is also associated with improved concentration and protection against insects. Insects cannot stand the smell of lemon oil at all.

Some important effects of lemon oil summarized:

• Anti-inflammatory
• Antipyretic
• Improves the inner well-being
• Diuretic
• Strengthens the immune system
• Lowers blood pressure
• Antibacterial
• Purifying

Application on the skin

• For the application of lemon oil on the skin you should only use high quality products.
• To care for your hands, simply mix a few drops of citrus oil with a cream. You can also use oils for the scalp. Here you mix a few drops of lemon oil with your shampoo. Always take care never to apply essential oil undiluted to the skin. Carrier substances such as shampoos or creams are very suitable and have a better effect on the skin.
• Lemon oil can have a positive effect on teeth whitening. Again, you mix it with a carrier substance. In this case of course with toothpaste.

Use in the kitchen

• Not only can you apply lemon oil directly to the skin, but you can also enjoy the valuable ingredients through your diet. Since the oil has a very intense taste, you should not simply drip it on other foods.
• However, you can mix the oil well with water or use it to enhance dressings and sauces. A few drops can also have a positive effect when baking or preparing desserts.

Lemon oil: Dosage

As already mentioned, you should never use lemon oil undiluted. If you want to drink the oil in combination with water, mix about five drops with 400 millilitres of water. When applying it to the skin, you can use a maximum of 2 percent pure essential oil as a guideline.

Buy lemon oil

• Avoid buying synthetically produced oils. Because these have nothing to do with the healthy effects of natural lemon oil. The oil should be labelled as pure lemon essential oil. In addition, the oil should be kept in a dark bottle.
• You will get the best quality with pure oil from organic production. This way you can be sure that the lemons are unsprayed. Due to the large number of vitamins and minerals it contains, lemon oil does not last as long as other edible oils. After one year at the latest you should have consumed the oil.

Making lemon oil yourself

Producing essential oil in its pure form is very costly. For this you also need the peel of a large number of lemons. And you probably can’t do much with the remaining fruits in the kitchen.

Alternatively, you can simply make a lemon oil in combination with olive oil. For this you use 500 ml olive oil and 2 lemons (organic is best). And thus your oil succeeds in few steps:

1. Separate the peel from the fruit.
2. Take an empty glass bottle to seal and put the olive oil and also the peel of the lemons inside.
3. Let the oil steep in the closed bottle. The longer you let the mixture stand, the more intense the taste will be.