Watermelon Just
Got Better
On a hot, summery day, ice-cold watermelon serves up a delicious treat. Sure, the rosy flesh quenches your
thirst. But now there are more reasons than ever to reach for a slice.
Meet Dr. Alison Edwards. She is a scientist at the
Agricultural Research Service. Scientists are people who think
of new ideas, called theories.
They also make up scientific experiments
to test their new
ideas. That's how they figure out if a new idea is a good one, or
if the new idea will lead to an even better idea.
Dr. Edwards is a chemist at the Phytonutrients (say "FIY-toe-NEW-tree-ents") Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. Phytonutrients are not necessarily
vitamins. But they do nourish people in special ways.
Can
you guess why the name starts with phyto, which rhymes with BITE-oh?
Click
Here To Find Out Why
At her lab, Dr. Edwards recently learned more about
the secrets of why watermelon is good for you! With all the seed-spitting fun you have eating
watermelon, you might not have known it also packs a nutritious punch.
But before sharing secrets, let's share some fun
facts about how today's watermelon came about.
About a half-century ago, watermelons
were round! So they were hard to stack. And they rolled around
during the rough ride from farm to market. They were also soft.
So all that bumping made them crack and bruise.
Back then, an ARS plant breeder named C. Fred Andrus
set out to develop a better watermelon. He came up with the first
sweet melon that could be stacked, because it was shaped like an oval, called
oblong. The new breed of watermelon also resisted the most serious
watermelon diseases of the day.
That new watermelon breed was named after the city where Dr. Andrus worked. It was
dubbed "Charleston Gray," after Charleston, South Carolina.
Now, most of the watermelons you find still have that handy, oblong shape.
Today, there are more than 1,200 kinds, or what scientists
call varieties, of watermelon grown worldwide. That's according to the National
Watermelon Promotion Board.
Now, let's get back to the news about how
watermelon is good for you. After all, good news shouldn't be
kept secret.
Dr. Edwards has known for a long time that watermelon contains vitamin C. But in recent years, scientists learned
that watermelon also contains a phytonutrient called lycopene (sounds like
"LIKE-oh-peen").
It is the substance, or pigment, that gives
tomatoes and watermelon their rosy red color.
These red
pigments are known as carotenoids (ka-ROT-en-oids).
Scientists are interested in carotenoids because of their antioxidant
properties. Antioxidants are one of many nutrients that we get from
plants that are needed to help keep the body's cells healthy.
What's so special about the lycopene in
watermelons?
Dr. Edwards says that watermelons and tomatoes
both have lots of lycopene. It seems that your body can use the lycopene
from watermelon more easily than the lycopene from raw tomatoes. Actually, the
lycopene from tomatoes is more easily absorbed inside your body once
the tomatoes have been cooked.
Still, if you're at a picnic on a summer day, a
steaming plate of spaghetti may be the last thing you want. A slice
of lycopene-rich watermelon might be more appealing.
And if you tell your mom, she just might bring
watermelon home more often!!
Still hot for some cool words on watermelon?
Click
this sentence or the photo for a watermelon word game.
By Rosalie
Marion Bliss,
Agricultural Research Service, Information
Staff
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