Here’s some disturbing news for lovers of this highly refreshing drink.

Whenever you go out to get a meal at a restaurant, we all know that one of the first questions that you will get asked by the waiter will be “What would you like as a drink?” (Or something along that variation). Just like clockwork, your party will go off on their go-to orders of drinks- and we’re pretty sure that one of them will be lemon with water.

Lemon water has been one of the most popular beverages for decades now, and it is especially favored for not just its crisp and refreshing taste, but due to a recently trending idea that lemon water has a few health benefits.

Well, this idea isn’t completely wrong. Evidence has showed that lemon water can help you cleanse your system, improve the look of your skin, and even help your body maintain a healthy weight. When you consider all of these, it is easy to see why celebrities everywhere swear b this simple drink.

However, while it is more recommended that you should keep drinking more lemon with water while you engage in your daily activities (this will be specially more effective in some hot water, and you should take it first thing in the morning as it will help get your body started off on the right foot), there is one place where you are advised to just keep drinking the regular water. It might be a tad surprising, but the last place where you would want to enjoy a lemon with water will be a restaurant.

You might be thinking that this is crazy, especially if you remember that there is at least one member of your clique that orders a lemon with water whenever you all go out to eat. Well, perhaps the reason why the person keeps ordering that is because they don’t yet know this utterly disgusting fact about the drink they might think it helps their system, but it really isn’t.

According to a study that was published in a 2007 edition of the Journal of Environmental Heath, 76 lemons were tested for germs from 21 restaurants, and it was discovered that almost 70 percent of the lemon slices were completely covered in viruses, bacteria and other microbes (including the disease-causing E.coli).

In another investigation by ABC, researchers tested one lemon at 10 different restaurants and found that half of the lemon wedges contained human waste.

So what is the reason for this incredible contamination of lemon wedges? Well as it would seem, there seem to be more lenient standards for restaurant health as regards garnishes.

The investigation by ABC noticed that restaurant workers are of the habit of grabbing lemons without using tongs or gloves. Assuming that they don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom or touching somewhere else that is germ-ridden, it means that there’s a high probability that they’re touching your lemon slices with bacteria-covered hands and plopping them right into your water.

Irritating.

However, inasmuch as these findings are incredibly gross, experts have also said that the average immune system is able to handle these kinds of germs. However, while the odds of getting some form of infection or illness from a dirty lemon are incredibly slim, it still doesn’t make the whole thing any less irksome to think about.