It’s watermelon season! We bought a fantastic watermelon this past weekend and eating it was like eating candy. A ripe watermelon can be so delicious. But is it nutritious?
Yes! Watermelon is a great food to eat.
Watermelon is mostly water – over 90% and a cup of diced watermelon has only 40 calories. It has many vitamins including A, C, B6, potassium and beta-carotine as well as antioxidants and amino-acids. It also contains important phytonutrients such as lycopene, which has been shown to have cardiovascular benefits and may help protect against prostate cancer. Watermelon has anti-inflammatory benefits as well due the amino acids L-arginine and L-citrulline, two known powerful anti-inflammatory agents.
Even though watermelon does contain fructose, a naturally occurring sugar that is in all fruits, its sugar content per gram is about the same or less than other fruits such as bananas and berries. In any event, eating the sugar in fruit is not a problem: Is it possible to eat too much fruit?
This study found that drinking watermelon juice before a workout may help prevent post-workout muscle soreness and recovery heart rate, and this study found that consuming watermelon can boost athletic performance.
Watermelon is good for weight loss as it is mostly water, yet contains fiber, and can satisfy a desire for treats.
There are over 200 varieties of watermelon grown in North America, about 50 of which are popular.
Seedless watermelons are sterile hybrids. According to Live Science, seedless watermelons are “created by crossing male pollen for a watermelon, containing 22 chromosomes per cell, with a female watermelon flower with 44 chromosomes per cell. When this seeded fruit matures, the small, white seed coats inside contain 33 chromosomes, rendering it sterile and incapable of producing seeds.”
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the heaviest watermelon grown weighed about 350 pounds. Pic:
If you have links for the studies, please send them to me. I’d like to show them to my doctor. She told me to cut back on my fruit intake to lose weight, but I ended up gaining weight instead!
Interesting stuff. I wish watermelons (and pears/peaches) were not so hit or miss in terms of flavor!). Comments on the “Is it possible to eat too much fruit?“ IFOD ste closed so … did the referenced study (revealing no adverse health effects from ~excessive 20 fruit servings per day, for how long?) have a comparison group with similar “amounts” of processes sugar per day?
In the 20 servings of fruit a day – the original study from 1971 was for 12 weeks. The second study was from 2001 was a two week study. Neither had a control group with a similar amount of processed sugar. The 2001 study did have two different groups on different diets – one high in starches and the third a low fat diet.
this is the BEST IFOD yet! I plan to sleep next to a watermelon next time I have a nap!