Is bottled lemon juice bad?

YorriaRaine

I drink a lot of lemon water, with just water and lemon, no added sugar. However, it is really hard to find good lemons most of the year, and even when you can, they are usually a dollar each. I cannot really afford that so I get the bottled lemon juice. It does have preservatives in it. It is the RealLemon brand.

I wanna say I put like 3-4 tablespoons in a 16oz cup and I drink this around 3 or so times a day (basically it looks like lemonade but it doesn't have sugar).

One of my paleo friends keeps yelling at me saying that the preservatives are gonna get to me because I drink so much of it, and that is has no health benefits anymore anyway. However I don't really know where to get lemon juice without preservatives without spending boatloads on actual lemons.

Does it really have no health benefits, are the preservatives in it really that bad?

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Also, could anyone recommend a brand to me, preferably one that is an affordable price that you can get somewhere like amazon. It takes 30-40 minutes to get anywhere where I live so it is much more convenient to buy online.

CaffeineAssisted

I honestly would recommend True Lemon. It's a powder instead of a liquid. It has no preservatives and has the absolute best lemon flavor, IMNSHO.

It's sold on Amazon in different sizes. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=true lemon&sprefix=true+l,aps&rh=i:aps,k:true lemon.

LKArgh

I cannot comment about preservatives, but, once you open the bottle, even if there was any vitamin c to begin with, chances are it is gone by the time you are ready for the next serving. Vitamin c does not last long once it gets exposed to air. On the other hand, even if you prepared a container with water and fresh lemon in the morning, it still would have zero vitamin c after an hour or two. So, if you are doing it for the vitamins, which is why usually people drink lemon water (or at least so I have heard) you need a fresh lemon , and squeezing a few drops in your glass whenever you are going to drink. If it is just for the taste, honestly I do not think it matters, unless you are trying to not eat anything with preservatives, which sounds really a huge challenge.

_Zardoz_

I cannot comment about preservatives, but, once you open the bottle, even if there was any vitamin c to begin with, chances are it is gone by the time you are ready for the next serving. Vitamin c does not last long once it gets exposed to air.

Actually if it's kept in an air tight container in the fridge it is likely to be preserved. As much as Vitamin C is unstable in the right conditions it will survive well