Watermelon is Nature’s Viagra

According to a news report in the Daily Mail of 4 July, watermelons contain an ingredient that can help relax the body's blood vessels, like Viagra. It means that men may be able to jazz up their love lives naturally.

The down side is that you'd have to eat six slices of melon to get the same effect as a single Viagra tablet. Besides, the drug is not organ specific; it relaxes all the blood vessels.

So much watermelon at one go also means more sugar, albeit natural sugar, which could cause cramps, and more trips to the bathroom.

The way it works is that watermelons contain an ingredient called citrulline that can trigger production of a compound that helps relax the body's blood vessels, similar to what happens when a man takes Viagra.

Found in the flesh and rind of watermelons, citrulline reacts with the body's enzymes when consumed in large quantities and is changed into arginine, an amino acid that benefits the heart and the circulatory and immune systems.

'Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it," said Bhimu Patil, director of Texas A&M University's Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Centre.

The nitric oxide can also help with angina, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems, according to the Texas study, which was paid for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

More citrulline - about 60 percent - is found in watermelon rind than in the flesh. Citrulline is found in all colours of watermelon and is highest in the yellow-fleshed types.

Bhimu Patil hopes to do future studies on how to reduce the sugar content in watermelon.

The relationship between citrulline and arginine might also prove helpful to those who are obese or suffer from type-2 diabetes.

Citrulline is present in other curcubits, like cucumbers and cantaloupe, at very low levels, and in the milk protein casein.

Amazingly, highest concentrations of citrulline are found in walnut seedlings.

"But they're bitter and most people don't want to eat them," said U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Penelope Perkins-Veazie.