Lemonade or limeade: which is healthier?

In this table both are made up with water, the lemonade from a powder mix and the limeade from frozen concentrate. An 8 fl oz glass works out to about 37 calories and 9 g of sugar for the lemonade against 129 calories and 33 g for the limeade. Each is a single USDA record, and a home recipe or a chain-store drink will differ.

The best known benefit, help with kidney stones, is weaker than its reputation. In 12 healthy adults, 68 fl oz (2 L) of lemonade a day left urine pH unchanged, and only the diet version raised urinary citrate. The regular one added 805 calories and 225 g of sugar a day over the diet one. A lime-based citrate powder cut stone recurrence to 14 percent from 45 percent over two years in Thai patients after stone removal, but we found no trial of home limeade. If you form stones, neither drink replaces your prescribed treatment.

In German children, each daily portion of sugary drinks went with more tooth decay. Lime juice left average levels of felodipine, a blood pressure drug, unchanged but more than doubled them in 2 volunteers. On felodipine, ask your pharmacist about citrus juices.

So choose by taste, check the label, and if you drink either often, pick a diet version.

Evidence behind this note

1. Level B In 12 healthy adults, 2.1 quarts (2 L) a day of regular lemonade added 805 calories and 225 g of sugar, and only the diet version raised urinary citrate. J Endourol, 2019
2. Level B Drinking 2.1 quarts (2 liters) of ordinary lemonade a day added 805 calories and 225 g of sugar compared with the diet version. J Endourol, 2019
3. Level B In 173 calcium oxalate stone patients after stone removal, a lime-based citrate regimen cut 2-year recurrence to 14% from 45% on placebo (HR 0.24). PLoS One, 2025
4. Level C In 10-year-olds, each daily 8.5 fl oz (250 mL) portion of sugar-sweetened drinks including lemonade went with 29% higher odds of caries experience (adjusted OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.57). BMC Oral Health, 2020
5. Level B Quarter-strength lime juice (8.5 fl oz / 250 mL) did not change average felodipine levels, but more than doubled drug exposure in 2 people, while grapefruit juice nearly doubled it on average. Clin Pharmacol Ther, 2003

Written from the studies and agency guidance we hold for both foods, reviewed by the Bioma editorial system. How we verify.

Read more about these foods

• Lemonade: full of citrate, almost empty of alkali
• Limeade: a sugary drink next to a lime powder tested on kidney stones

Rankings and guides

• Fiber: what it does and how much you need
• Sodium: what it does and how much you need
• Which foods are highest in potassium?

• Lemonade: USDA FoodData Central, Lemonade, powder, prepared with water, FDC ID 174859 · all forms of lemonade
• Limeade: USDA FoodData Central, Limeade, frozen concentrate, prepared with water, FDC ID 174862 · all forms of limeade

Each food is one USDA entry, chosen as it is usually eaten. Other cuts, brands and preparations differ; the links show them. % DV uses FDA Daily Values for adults. How we verify.