Health
What’s New and Beneficial About Watermelon
Alongside of tomatoes, watermelon has
moved up to the front of the line in recent research studies on
high-lycopene foods. Lycopene is a carotenoid phytonutrient that’s
especially important for our cardiovascular health, and an increasing
number of scientists now believe that lycopene is important for bone
health as well. Among whole, fresh fruits that are commonly eaten in the
U.S., watermelon now accounts for more U.S. intake of lycopene (by
weight of fruit eaten) than any other fruit. Pink grapefruit and guava
are two other important fruit sources of lycopene, although in the U.S.,
these fruits are more often consumed in the form of juice.
Health scientists are becoming more and
more interested in the citrulline content of watermelon. Citrulline is
an amino acid that is commonly converted by our kidneys and other organ
systems into arginine (another amino acid). The flesh of a watermelon
contains about 250 millligrams of citrulline per cup. When our body
absorbs this citrulline, one of the steps it can take is conversion of
citrulline into arginine. Particularly if a person’s body is not making
enough arginine, higher levels of arginine can help improve blood flow
and other aspects of our cardiovascular health. There’s also some
preliminary evidence from animal studies that greater conversion of
citrulline into arginine may help prevent excess accumulation of fat in
fat cells due to blocked activity of an enzyme called tissue-nonspecific
alkaline phosphatase, or TNAP.
If you’ve gotten used to thinking about
the juicy red flesh at the center of a watermelon as its only
nutrient-rich area—and far more nutrient-rich than the more
lightly-colored flesh that is farther out near the watermelon rind—it is
time to change your thinking. In a recent study, food scientists
compared the nutrient content of flesh from different parts of a
watermelon: flesh from the center, the stem end, the blossom end
(opposite from the stem), and the periphery (the part nearest to the
rind). What they’ve discovered were impressive concentrations of
phenolic antioxidants, flavonoids, lycopene, and vitamin C in all of
these different areas. The exact distribution of nutrients was also
highly dependent on the variety of watermelon. But there was no area in
any of the watermelon varieties that came out badly in terms of
nutrients, and in many of the watermelon varieties, the flesh’s outer
periphery contained impressive concentrations of most nutrients.
Recent studies have confirmed the
nutritional importance of allowing a watermelon to fully ripen. For
example, research has shown that the biggest jump in lycopene content
occurs at the time when a watermelon’s flesh turns from white-pink to
pink. Yet when that flesh continues to ripen, resulting in a color
change from pink to red, the lycopene content becomes even more
concentrated. Prior to ripening, when the flesh of a watermelon is
primarily white in color, its beta-carotene content is near zero. Even
when allowed to ripen to the white-pink stage, a watermelon still
contains very little of its eventual beta-carotene content. But as it
moves from white-pink to pink to red, the beta-carotene content of a
watermelon steadily increases. Like lycopene and beta-carotene, total
phenolic antioxidants in a watermelon also increase consistently during
ripening, all the way up until the appearance of fully red flesh. The
bottom line: eating a fully ripe watermelon can really pay off in terms
of nutrient benefits.
Source: HALA Mag
0 comments
Enjoyed The Post??? Your Comment Will Talk Better.