Watermelon is one of the healthiest fruit for summers and can be a cool and refreshing treat. As with most fruits, its seeds are almost always discarded and not eaten, but they can be consumed. In fact, the entire watermelon can be consumed, including flesh, seeds and rind.
Watermelon seeds have their own nutritional makeup, including proteins, fats, iron and other nutrients. Per 1 cup, watermelon seeds contain a significant amount of the following vitamins: Thiamin (14 percent of recommended daily value), riboflavin (9 percent), niacin (19 percent) and folate (16 percent). Regarding minerals, watermelon seeds provide calcium (6 percent), iron (44 percent), magnesium (139 percent), phosphorus (82 percent), potassium (20 percent), zinc (74 percent), copper (37 percent) and manganese (87 percent).
Nutritional benefits:
Rich in Proteins and essential amino acids: Watermelon seeds are very high in protein, with 1 cup of dried seeds containing 30.6g, which is 61 percent of the daily recommended value. The protein in watermelon seeds consists of several amino acids, including arginine, tryptophan, glutamic acid, and lysine. Lysine plays important role in calcium absorption and formation of collgen and connective tissues in body. Arginine helps in improvement of body metabolism, cardio vascular system and sexual health.
Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties: The phenolic compounds in watermelon—including flavonoids, carotenoids, and triterpenoids have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant health benefits. Also, watermelon is an unusually concentrated source of carotenoid-lycopene.
Rich in magnesium: Magnesium is responsible for normal heart functioning, promoting normal blood pressure, supporting energy metabolism and protein synthesis. It has beneficial effect in treating cardiovascular diseases, hypertension. Magnesium regulates carbohydrate metabolism and thereby checks blood sugar and controls diabetes.
Eating Watermelon Seeds and Uses of watermelon seeds:
Watermelon seeds have a hard coating so it is essential either to process watermelon seeds or chew them to derive the health benefits of watermelon seeds. If not chewed or processed, they can just pass undigested out of the body, in such cases no benefits of watermelon seed nutrients is obtained.
Watermelon seeds can be utilised in snacks, soups, beverages, desserts, yoghurts.
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