The health fad of daily lemon juice has turned sour for some people whose teeth have decayed because of it, promoting a dentist to warn it's as bad as soda.
Taken with water in the morning, lemon juice is the latest fad, Seven Sharp reported.
"It increases metabolism, which is one of the main things. It actually helps regulate your blood pressure. But it's high in fibre, the pectin fibre, which is going to help keep you full for a while," said nutritionist Nicole Deed.
"A lot of people are doing it, especially in the gym scene," she said.
Lemon juice drinkers said "it's supposed to be really good for cleaning and detoxing your liver" and "apparently it's supposed to break down fats and stuff in the body."
But dentist Phillippe Gianni is warning against daily lemon juice, saying lemon juice has about the same acidity as stomach acid.
"There's not much difference between the sodas that are sold, and lemon juice and water. The acidity's the same," he added.
Mr Gianni showed Seven Sharp photos of the decayed teeth of lemon juice drinkers who were his patients.
"The other day I had someone come in.
"Six months ago, they had great teeth. And now the enamel has been dissolved away, and you've got caries starting to form, which is tooth decay eating away at the teeth," he said.
And Mr Gianni is seeing a group in particular who are coming to him with this problem.
"A lot of them seem to be women who are trying to get healthy, lose some weight."
"It's probably just best not to do it at all. If you want vitamin C, why not eat an orange?"
Seven Sharp said it's great to be healthy, but for your teeth, the lemon habit can get pretty sour, pretty fast.
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