Nutrition for Lemon

Calories, Protein, Vitamins and More


image of lemon source

Lemon Nutrition Summary

One lemon (58 grams or 2.05 oz) contains 17 calories and 0.6 grams of protein. Lemon consist of 89% water, 9% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and less than 1% of fat.

Lemon is an excellent source of a few nutrients, including Vitamin C. It also contains significant amounts of dietary fiber, calcium and potassium.

In one lemon:

  • Calories: 17
  • Protein: 0.6 g
  • Sugar: 1.5 g
  • Dietary fiber: 1.6 g
  • Fat: 0.2 g
  • Sodium: 1.2 mg
There is no significant amounts of saturated fat or cholesterol in lemon.

See the Lemon Nutrition Chart for complete recommended daily values.
The specific nutritional values from USDA is for: Lemons, raw, without peel.

Calories in Lemon

Lemon has 17 calories per lemon or 29 calories for every 100 grams. Most of its calories are from carbohydrates.

84% of calories in lemon are from carbohydrates, 9% of calories are from protein and 7% of calories are from fat.

Calories from Carbs

The majority, or 84% of the calories in lemon are from carbohydrates. The carbs in lemon are mostly in the form of dietary fiber and sugar (52% and 48%). An excellent high-fiber food, a single lemon contains 6% of recommended daily values or 1.6 grams of dietary fiber.

  • Dietary fiber: 1.6 g
  • Sugar: 1.5 g
There is no significant amounts of starch in lemon.

Calories from Fat

A small portion, or 7% the calories in Lemon are from fat. Lemon is very low in total fat, with 0.2 grams per lemon. Most of the fat in lemon are healthier unsaturated fats.

Lemon is cholesterol free and trans-fat free.

  • Total fat: 0.2 g
  • Polyunsaturated fat: 0.1 g
There is no significant amounts of cholesterol, trans fat, saturated fat or monounsaturated fat in lemon.

Omega-6 in Lemon

Lemon contains a small amount of omega-6 fatty acids, mostly in the form of linolenic acid - the only essential omega-6 fatty acid. [2]

  • linoleic acid: 0.04 g

Calories Similar to Lemon

Some other fruits or fruit juices with similar calories to lemon by weight:


Protein in Lemon

A single lemon contains 0.6 grams of protein. Lemon is relatively low in protein, and is not a source of complete protein, containing little or small amounts of the majority of the nine essential amino acids.

  • Protein: 0.64 g
There is no significant amounts of tryptophan, threonine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, valine or histidine in lemon.

Protein Similar to Lemon

Some other fruits or fruit juices with similar amounts of protein to lemon by weight:

Vitamins and Minerals in Lemon

An good source of nutrients, lemon contains abundant amounts of Vitamin C. In fact, a single lemon contains 41% of recommended daily values or 30.7 milligrams of Vitamin C.

Vitamins in lemon (1 fruit):
  • Vitamin a: 0.6 ug
  • Niacin: 0.1 mg
  • Vitamin b6: < 0.1 mg
  • Vitamin c: 30.7 mg
  • Vitamin e: 0.1 mg
  • Folate: 6.4 ug
Minerals in lemon (1 fruit):
  • Calcium: 15.1 mg
  • Potassium: 80 mg
  • Iron: 0.3 mg
  • Magnesium: 4.6 mg
  • Zinc: < 0.1 mg
  • Selenium: 0.2 ug
  • Phosphorus: 9.3 mg
  • Choline: 3 mg
There is no significant amounts of copper, manganese, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, vitamin b12 or vitamin k in lemon.

Similar to Lemon for Vitamin C

Here are some other fruits or fruit juices with similarly abundant amounts of Vitamin C to lemon:

Flavonoids and Carotenoids in Lemon [3]

Lemon contains a couple of healthy phytonutrients and antioxidants, specifically carotenoid lutein + zeaxanthin and flavonoid luteolin, myricetin and quercetin. In one lemon:

  • lutein + zeaxanthin: 6 ug
  • luteolin: 1.1 mg
  • myricetin: 0.29 mg
  • Quercetin: 0.66 mg

Lemon Nutrition Chart

Lemon:

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Nutrition calculations are from Harvard Medical's nutrient guidelines [1] and USDA's food central database (2019) [2].
We calculated values from 2000 kCal daily recommended diet.

Lemon in Cooking

Lemon is in the top 10% of most popular ingredients for recipes. Lemon can be consumed raw and is often juiced, sliced or halved before cooking or serving. Most recipes call for one or two lemons.

Friends and Relatives of Lemon

Foods commonly cooked with lemon: Other similar relatives:


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