Nutrients in Watermelon Work Similarly to Viagra
ABSTRACT: Food is more than just something we eat: It’s medicine, fuel and art, all wrapped into flavor. As such, certain foods can have health benefits. Watermelon is one of those.
One of the things I learned early on when looking at alternative health options to treat my multiple health conditions was that one of the worst detriments to our health comes from the foods we choose to eat. Well, it stands to reason that if food can cause negative health consequences, that when chosen properly, food could also cause positive health consequences.
That led me to learning more about things like the anti-inflammatory diet, the gluten-intolerance diet, the Paleo diet and more. Even the much discussed and debated Atkins low-carb/high-fat/moderate protein diet was created by a cardiologist to help his heart patients. So all these diets make it clear that, whether they work as intended or not, food itself can indeed have a medicinal or therapeutic or holistic effect on the body.
Watermelon Helps Sexual Activity?
I regularly scour the news and websites for information about the health benefits of food, and I stumbled upon a Care2 article online that discussed the health benefits of fruit, in particular: watermelon.
The article discussed the nutrients in watermelon, including: beta carotene, lycophene, and citrulline, as well as other phytonutrients. According to a researcher at Texas A&M University, citrulline has been shown to potentially relax blood vessels, similar to the way Viagra (a drug used for erectile dysfunction) works. Additionally, lycophene has been shown to help with prostate health in men, and beta carotene is a powerful anti-oxidant.
Physical Effects of Citrulline
When consumed, citrulline changes to arginine in the body. According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, arginine is a semiessential amino acid that can help with widening blood vessels, acting as a vasodilator. This is, essentially, what Viagra and other drugs similar to it do to the body.
Watermelon Works Like Viagra?
Of course, this isn’t to say you should expect watermelon to work as effectively or as well as Viagra does, but then again, consuming it won’t give you the same side effects that taking a prescription medication will either. Eating watermelon also gives you plenty of other healthy things your body needs, including the vitamin and phytonutrients, and it has a low glycemic index per volume.
Yes, watermelon has a lot of natural sugar to it, but by volume, it doesn’t weigh very much and is mostly water with nutrients, so when it is chosen or less healthy options, watermelon is a quite healthy snack, packed with some powerful nutrition.
Not Just for Men!
And don’t think that Viagra-like action on the body is just for men. Woman are sometimes offered Viagra type medication to help increase their sex drive. I stumbled upon this information quite by accident, because I have pulmonary arterial hypertension (high pressure in the pulmonary artery that leads to the lungs-not the same as high blood pressure, which I do not have). Some patients with PAH are treated with Viagra because of the vasodilation effect it has, not for the sexual function ability!
Yet, still, that is a potentially positive side effect for men or women. After all, if you like watermelon, adding a bit more of it into your diet can’t hurt anything, and you might really enjoy the watermelon growing season a little bit more.