Lemon Juice

Why lemon juice is rated low

Lemon juice comes in low at its tested serving of 1 tbsp (15mL), with no raised FODMAP subgroup recorded for it at that amount. Juice is worth thinking about differently from whole fruit, because juicing puts the sugars of the fruit into liquid form and leaves the fibre behind, which is why the tested amount here is a measured tablespoon rather than a piece of fruit. Used the way lemon juice normally gets used, stirred through a dressing or squeezed over fish, that tablespoon covers the job. The figure stops there: 1 tbsp (15mL) is the only tested rung, so a tall glass of lemonade or a cup of lemon juice in a marinade is not covered by it.

What changes your risk

• Serving size, measured not poured One tablespoon is the tested amount. Free pouring from a bottle or squeezing a whole lemon over a salad easily runs past 1 tbsp (15mL), and nothing above that rung has a published level.
• Juicing concentrates the fruit The juice of a lemon is what you get once the flesh and fibre are left behind, so juice behaves differently from eating a piece of fruit. That is the whole reason the serving here is written as a liquid measure.
• Stacking across the meal No subgroup is recorded for lemon juice, so what matters is the overall FODMAP load of the meal it lands in. Lemon dressing on a salad, lemon in the marinade and lemon in the drink is three servings of the same thing in one sitting on top of everything else on the plate.
• What else is in the bottle or the glass Sweetened lemonade, lemon cordials and lemon drinks often carry honey or high fructose corn syrup, and those, not the lemon, are what push the drink out of range. Plain lemon juice with nothing added is the form the tested serving describes.
• The company it keeps in dressings Lemon juice is usually whisked into something, and that something often contains garlic or onion. Fructans do not dissolve into oil, so a garlic infused oil with no solid pieces left in it gives the same flavour, and chives or the green tops of spring onions can carry the rest.

What else works

For brightness and acidity, lemon juice at 1 tbsp (15mL) is itself the low option, so the useful move is usually to lean on flavour rather than volume: garlic infused oil, chives, the green tops of spring onions and fresh herbs build a dressing without adding more juice. What should not be treated as an equivalent splash of fruit flavour is apple juice or pear juice, which concentrate exactly what makes those fruits a problem, or honey and agave syrup in a lemon drink. Sweetened lemonade and bottled lemon drinks are a different product from plain lemon juice, whatever the picture on the front says.

How to keep it low

Measure the tablespoon rather than pouring by eye, because the difference between one tablespoon and three is invisible once it is in a bowl. One lemon yields more than the tested serving, so juice the whole thing, keep it in a small jar in the fridge and spread it across several dishes instead of using it all at once. Freezing juice in an ice cube tray in tablespoon amounts gives you a pre portioned splash for cooking, and freezing does not change the FODMAP content either way. Note that the tested figure covers the juice, not the whole fruit or the zest, so those are separate questions. When buying bottled, read the label and pick plain lemon juice rather than a lemon drink with added sweeteners.

Common questions

how much lemon juice is low fodmap

The tested serving is 1 tbsp (15mL) and lemon juice is low at that amount. Larger pours have no published level attached, so measuring the tablespoon is the reliable approach.

can i drink lemon water on a low fodmap diet

A glass of water made with 1 tbsp (15mL) of lemon juice stays at the tested serving. Adding several tablespoons, or sweetening it with honey, takes it past what the data covers.

is bottled lemon juice ok or does it have to be fresh

The tested serving describes plain lemon juice, so bottled juice with nothing added is treated the same way. The portion is still 1 tbsp (15mL), and the thing to check on the label is added sweeteners rather than the lemon.

can i use lemon juice in the elimination phase

Yes, at 1 tbsp (15mL) it is low FODMAP and it is a straightforward way to add flavour during elimination. Tolerance is individual, and any reintroduction is best worked through with a dietitian.