WATER MELON - THE MUST MELON

Benjamin Franklin, America’s greatest citizen, a printer by trade, scientist and philosopher by fame said, “Women & Melons are difficult to understand”. Water melon (Citrullus lanatus) is a beautiful, juicy, tasty fruit of the Cucurbitaceae family. This family contains all the edible gourds, such as cucumbers, watermelons, Musk melons, squash, and pumpkins. Water melon is cultivated in all tropical and subtropical areas of the world for its nutritional and medicinal value.[1] It is a flowering plant originally from South Africa. Watermelon is grown in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide for its large edible fruit which is a special kind of berry with a hard rind and no internal division, botanically called a pepo.[2] The sweet, juicy flesh is usually deep red to pink, with many black seeds, although seedless varieties have been cultivated. The fruit can be eaten raw or pickled and the rind is edible after cooking. Watermelon fruit is composed of flesh (68%), seeds (2%) and rind approximately 30% of the total mass of the fruit. The sweet interior flesh of watermelon fruit is usually deep red or pink and in sometimes orange, yellow or may be green if not ripe. Basic macronutrients of watermelon fruit include carbohydrates, protein, dietary fiber and fat and their percentages in wet weight basis were 7.50, 0.61, 0.40 and 0.15%, respectively5.[3] Also, watermelon fruit is considered as a rich source of vitamins A, B, C and E and minerals K, mg, Ca and Fe and antioxidants e.g., phenolics and carotenoids6.Beneficial effects of watermelon fruit may be due to its content of bioactive compounds that have antioxidant or anti inflammatory properties. Thus, it is evident that Water melon fruit possess a wide range of useful medicinal properties, which can be exploited clinically. The present review article covers comprehensively up-to-date information on the chemical constituents and medicinal profile of water melon.[4]