Why watermelon lowers negative effect of poor diet

Watermelon intake has demonstrated effects on blood pressure regulation along with other health benefits. Even consuming watermelon frequently as a dessert, fruit salad and in garnishing drinks could remediate metabolic complications that come with junk foods and a Western-style diet high in fat.

Experts, in a new study, said supplementing a diet high in fat with watermelon as a dessert, fruit salad and in garnishing drinks diet improved fasting blood glucose, circulating insulin concentrations in the blood, and changes in liver metabolite accumulation.

Even with a modest level of supplementation, the fiber-rich additives further improved glucose breakdown and energy efficiency. It was in the March 2020 edition of The Journal of Nutrition.

Watermelon is an unusual fruit source of the lycopene and an excellent source of water. It contains unusual amounts of the amino acids and citrulline. Also, watermelon is also an excellent source of immune-supportive vitamin C and vitamin A (9.0 mg), potassium (11.2 mg) and magnesium (10.2 mg).

A plethora of evidence shows that it can be effective for weight loss because of its fewer quantities of fats. As a result, the consumption of watermelon provides long-term health benefits such as reduced risk of heart disease, improved blood pressure in hypertension patients and decrease low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation.

The researchers had assessed the intake of watermelon in high-fat–fed male mice. Ten-week-old male mice were provided either a low-fat diet or a high fat diet with watermelon skin or watermelon skin and rind were added at 2.25 per cent of diet. Body weights, food intake and glucose tolerance were determined.

The final body weight of the low fat control group was significantly lower than that of the high fat-fed control group. Mice in treatment groups fed high fat supplemented with watermelon products had final body weights similar to those of the high fat-fed control mice.

Insulin concentrations in the blood were reduced by approximately 40 per cent in mice fed a high fat diet with watermelon rind supplementation compared with mice fed a high fat diet alone. Depending on the individual species or group, microbiome populations changed significantly.

Moreover, in another study researchers had corroborated the antidiabetic potential of watermelon juice in alloxan-induced diabetic rats and declared that its juice may have a useful clinical application in the management of diabetes mellitus and its metabolic complications if developed as adjuvant therapy.  It was in the April 2020 edition of the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders.

Diabetes was induced in the rats and these animals were randomly grouped into five groups of normal control, untreated diabetic control, diabetic rats administered 200 mg/kg body weight of metformin, diabetic rats administered 500 mg/kg body weight of watermelon juice and diabetic rats administered 1000 mg/kg body weight of watermelon juice. The rats were sacrificed on the 14th day of the experiment and various parameters were also evaluated in their blood and body tissues.

The watermelon juice exhibits anti-oxidant properties in a dose-dependent manner. Added to this, the administration of different doses of the watermelon juice significantly reduced the fasting blood glucose level, level of fat in the blood and glucose-6-phosphatase in these rats made to develop diabetes under laboratory conditions.

Also, watermelon-starfruit Juice is also used traditionally for reducing blood pressure of hypertension in Indonesia. Expert’s in a test to determine the best therapeutic juice in reducing hypertension found watermelon, starfruit, and watermelon-starfruit mixture all have the same ability to reduce blood pressure. But the watermelon-star fruit juice was the best in reducing high blood pressure.

A sample of 33 people was selected and divided into three equal groups, namely drinking watermelon juice, drinking star fruit juice, and drinking watermelon-star fruit juice mixture group. It was in the 2020 edition of the SRP journal.

According to the study, the mean systolic blood pressure of the three groups before and after drinking juice showed a significant difference. Likewise, the mean diastolic blood pressure of the three groups before and after drinking juice showed a significant difference.

They added “all three groups have the same ability to reduce blood pressure, but the watermelon-star fruit juice group can reduce high blood pressure (hypertension) to become normal (norm tension).”