You might have already heard that in 2020 we have switched from drinking celery juice into drinking cucumber juice. This is the new healthy trend spreading in the social media. Why? What is so special about cucumbers? Well I’m glad you asked cause that’s the question I’m about to answer. We will be going through all the different health benefits among the not so great side effects you may get from drinking cucumber juice.

Most of us know what a cucumber is but did you know that the skin is actually meant to protect the fruit from animals and insects? Just like fruits, vegetables also have the skin as a protection and that’s why most of the antinutrients are usually found in the skin. What are antinutrients? They are plant compounds that reduce your body’s ability to absorb different nutrients. This could mean that antinutrients like phytate could reduce the absorption of iron, zinc and magnesium. So keeping this in mind we can all decide ourselves whether we want to have our cucumbers with or without the peel.

Benefits

Let’s get straight into it: peeled cucumbers are rich in water, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin, A, dietary fiber, electrolytes, copper, magnesium, potassium and some B-vitamins. Cucumber juice can also reduce cholesterol, strengthen your kidneys, boost nervous system function, help managing hormone production, improve immune system, support vision, increase bone density, help control bleeding disorders and optimize metabolism. Cucumber juice also has anti-cancer properties and it keeps you hydrated. No wonder cucumber juice has become such a big deal!

There are more than enough reasons to start drinking cucumber juice specially at this time of covid-19 spreading. Like I pointed earlier cucumber juice can boost your immunity because of the high dosage of vitamin C. 

I also mentioned how a basic cucumber juice can help control hormone production. Hormones can have a great impact in our lives and the way cucumber juice comes to help is through it’s levels of calcium. High levels of calcium can help you when thyroid or pituitary gland starts to malfunction by helping to compensate and keep hormone levels normal.

As a little tip you can also use cucumber juice on your scalp to reduce irritation or for your skin as a face wash. It can clear out pores and leave the skin moisturized. 

Side effects

As always there can be some side effects when consuming cucumber juice. Many of us already know whether we get an allergic reaction from cucumbers thought that is not the only possible side effect. 

Good amount of cucumber juice would be 1-2 cups per day among your normal diet. Drinking suddenly a lot of cucumber juice can trigger an allergic reaction leading to swelling of the lips, gums, throat, shortness of breath and skin irritation. 

Cucumbers 

Drinking too much could also cause gastric distress which is cause by infections, food intolerances, allergies and autoimmune diseases. Gastrointestinal distress is shown through symptoms like constipation, bloating, reflux, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping. From these the most common symptoms that come from drinking  too much cucumber juice are mainly bloating, cramping and excess gas.

If you drink an excessive amounts of cucumber juice you can get a high level of potassium which is not good for people with kidney issues. 

Cucumbers are also vulnerable to pesticide exposure. Thanks to the skin in cucumbers most of that is kept out of the fruit and you will stay safe by peeling your cucumbers.