Watermelon is good for heart health and can help reduce fat

WEST LAFAYETTE,
Ind.
-- Eating watermelons can significantly improve heart health and reduce weight, according to a new study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. The results show that the compound guarine, which is naturally found in watermelons, plays a key role in heart health.study by researchers at Purdue University and the University of Kentucky showed that mice were fed a diet containing watermelon juice with lower body weight, cholesterol and arterial plaques than the control group. The study builds on a study conducted last year at the University of Kentucky on whether adding a watermelon diet could help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis."We're interested in guarine because previous studies have shown that it lowers blood pressure," said
Shubin Saha
, an extension vegetable expert at Purdue University and co-author of the study. Although we did not see a decrease in blood pressure, other changes were promising. Instudy, the researchers fed two groups of mice a diet rich in saturated fat and cholesterol. Half of the mice received
2
% watermelon juice, while the rest consumed the same amount of water and supplemented it with a solution that matched the carbohydrate content in the watermelon juice. Mice who ate watermelon juice gained about
30
percent, about
50
percent less than the control group, and
50
percent less
LDL
). In addition, arterial plaques in the experimental group decreased by 50%
with elevated
.know that watermelons are good for
because they contain
, " said Shubin Saha, a professor of surgery at the University of Kentucky. But we don't know what it does at the molecular level, and that's what needs to be studied next. Inresearchers plan to continue studying how concentrations of guarine and another compound, lycopine, affect health. They will also test other varieties to determine whether watermelons in particular have more health benefits.