DALLAS: Watermelon may be the best picnic dessert nature has ever created, with its sweet juice cleverly bound inside that spongy red (sometimes yellow) matrix, and fully protected by psychedelic green rind.
But much like the thespian whose good looks overshadow brilliant acting skills, the watermelon’s sweet, colourful qualities have long undercut its attributes as a wholly nutritious fruit whose tasty powers hydrate as well as heal.
No matter how you slice it, this green cannonball of nutrition is attracting scientific attention as an elixir that reduces muscle pain after workouts and a whole lot more. Studies also have shown beneficial effects on arterial plaque in cardiovascular disease, prostate and other cancers, erectile dysfunction, menopause, acid reflux and potentially Alzheimer’s disease, among others.
A recent study, for example, found that “watermelon extract supplementation reduces blood pressure and arterial stiffness” in older adults in cold weather, so it “can prevent the progression of hypertension and the hypertensive response to cold exposure”…