5 Reasons Why Watermelon Is a Summer Superfood


3. Reduces blood pressure

An amino acid you may not have heard of, L-citrulline, helps keep your blood vessels healthy. And watermelon might just be the best dietary source there is.

In 2021, researchers compared previous studies on the effect of watermelon and citrulline on cardiometabolic health. Eight studies looked at blood pressure. Seven of them found that consuming watermelon flesh, juice, or extract helped lower it.

Citrulline “is really good for your blood vessels,” Cassetty says. “And any time you have flexible blood vessels that can widen and allow blood to flow without getting stiff or muddy, that’s what you really want.”

Just like your skin and eyes, there are several nutrients that contribute to this condition. Lycopene also comes back into the spotlight: it also helps control high blood pressure. Additionally, watermelon provides potassium, which can mitigate the effects of high blood pressure caused by excess sodium.

See more insurance offers >

4. Improve your diet

There’s a reason it’s called watermelon: The fruit is 92 percent water. Thanks to all that water, a two-cup serving only has 90 calories. But it still gives you generous helpings of many nutrients. And research suggests that adding watermelon to your diet helps you eat better overall.

The 2022 study published in the journal Nutrients found that people who ate watermelon had significantly healthier diets than those who didn’t. They consumed less unhealthy fats and added sugar, as well as more nutrients like fiber, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins A and C, and more antioxidants like lycopene and beta-carotene.

Another study looked at how watermelon can help you eat less overall. In this study, a group of overweight or obese people ate two cups of watermelon per day for four weeks. After a break, they ate a daily cookie of equivalent caloric value for four more weeks. Even though both snacks contained the same number of calories, the participants’ body weight increased after a month of cookie consumption and decreased after consuming watermelon. Participants reported feeling full for up to two hours after eating melon, but only 20 minutes after eating a cookie.

According to McKay, this is likely due to the combination of fiber and water in the melon. First, fiber helps slow down your body’s absorption of sugar. “At the same time, the fiber combined with the water in the watermelon can help bulk up that mass in your stomach and make you feel fuller for longer,” she says, “and therefore reduce your appetite.”



Source link

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top