Honeydew Melon: Benefits, Nutrition, Side Effects & More
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Honeydew melon, also known as honey melon, is a delightful winter fruit renowned for its sweet, light green flesh. With its musky aroma and smooth, whitish-yellow skin, honeydew melon is not just a treat for the taste buds but also a source of numerous health benefits.
Nutritional Value of Honeydew Melon
The numerous nutrients and plant compounds present in it may be the reason for its countless potential health benefits.
100 grams of honeydew melon contains:
Energy: 36 kcals
Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 9g
Protein: 1g
Fibre: 1g
Honeydew melons are almost similar to cantaloupes. The similarity lies in macronutrients, calories, and water contents. However, cantaloupes contain more than double the amount of vitamin C. They also have over 60% more vitamin A. This vitamin form is available as provitamin A carotenoids.
Vitamins and Minerals
Honeydew contains fair amounts of vitamins and minerals such as:
Vitamin A: 0.9mg
Vitamin E: 0.02mg
Folate: 19µg
Zinc: 0.09mg
Vitamin C: 3mcg
Iron: 0.17mg
Calcium: 6mg
Vitamin A is good for vision, and vitamin C boosts immunity. In addition, both have antioxidant properties that provide various health benefits.
Uses of Honeydew Melons
Incorporating honeydew melons into your menu can be done effortlessly. It’s readily available around the globe. Additionally, it is cost-effective compared to other well-known fruits like cantaloupes or watermelons.
Easy to Add to Your Diet
You can consume it just as it is a slice of ripe, cool melon. However, you can always go for something more creative and fun. There are several other methods to enjoy this fruit:
Salads
Honeydew melons can be sliced into bite-sized pieces and added to salad preparations. You can also add a teaspoon of olive oil to enhance its nutritional value.
Desserts
You can use it to prepare popsicles or ice cream by using it as a base in pureed form.
Breakfast
You can serve sliced melon along with cottage cheese or blend it down into a smoothie.
Soups
Prepare chilled soup with honeydew melon as a base and cucumber, peppers and mint.
Appetisers
Add melon slices to a spicy, tangy salsa or wrap its pieces with cured meats.
The beauty of every fruit and food is embedded in proper consumption, excessive consumption can lead to several health problems. Also, it important to be aware of the implications that comes with side effects of everything that we consume. We have previously discuss the health benefits attached to the eating of Honeydew Melon but it is best for us to discuss the danger and side effects that is embedded in the consumption and mostly in it excessive consumption. The focus of this article will be centered around the side effects of honeydew melon.
Honeydew melon which is as known as Sweet Melon comes in different nice shapes that attracts the eyes with it outside layer having a yellow skin or white at times. Honeydew melon/Sweet melon has a soft inside. In classification, a research shows that Sweet Melon has relations with cucumbers and squash. The fruit does not grow every season, it’s mostly seen around the month of July to September. The consumption of Honeydew Melon comes with some personal and important health benefits because of it richness in antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin B and the fruit also has lots of water. Honeydew Melon can be used to make some juice.
In terms of the most cultivated melons worldwide, honeydew melons secures the 3rd position, falling behind two other melons which includes watermelon and cantaloupe.
Honeydew Melon nutritional facts includes the following: Saturated fat 0 g, Total Fat 0.1 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Potassium 228 mg, Dietary fiber 0.8g, Total Carbohydrate 9g, Protein 0.5g, Magnesium 2%, it contains 5% of Vitamin B6, Sugar 8 g, Iron 1%, Calcium 0%, Vitamin C 30%, sodium 18mg. The nutritional values are based on statistics from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Considering the nutritional values attached to honeydew melon according to the above statistics, you will be wondering and filled with questions if honeydew melon can have any negative contribution to human’s health.
Side Effects
1) May Lead to Overloading of Glucose
There is high concentration of glucose in honeydew melon which makes it very sweet. This is dangerous and can be very injurious to human health because too much of glucose can be a source of diabetes which is classified as dreadful diseases which is mostly not curable but manageable. Consumption of honeydew melon should be based on following the instructions and directions given by a health professional.
2) Low Digestive Rate at Night
The rate at which the human digestive system is active at night is very low compared to the daytime which makes burning of sugar at night a bit difficult to do. It is medically advisable to reduce excessive indulgence in consuming melons and any food that contains lots of sugar at night because digestion activities are very slow at night.
Note: Melons have highly level of sugar concentration in it which can lead to gaining more weight if not properly burned.
It is advisable you commit yourself intentionally to the consumption of sugary food during day time for proper and quick burning and digestion.
3) Excessive Consumption May Lead to Diarrhea
Excessive consumption of honeydew melon an trigger a problem that is related digestion and might lead to diarrhea because of high level of water concentration in honeydew melon. According to scientific research, melon consists of a sugar compound referred to as Sorbitol which can cause bloating and gas related issues in the body. So it important to put this into consideration when eating melons.
4) You Might Deprive Your Health of Other Nutritional Value if improper in-take of Honeydew Melon Persists
When you indulge in excessive eating of honeydew melon, you might get easily filled up and appetite to consider eating other foods that comes with other nutritional value might disappear. Every food comes with its own nutrition and plays different role in keeping us in good health, so it is advisable not to soak yourself in excessive consumption of just one time of food and fruit so as not to deprive your health of other nutritional values. There should be proper in-take of honeydew melon which will pave way for other food and more nutritional addition will occur.
5) Might Aid Growth of Bacteria
Some bacteria depends on sugar to grow and survive. That’s why health professionals are always emphasizing on low consumption of food items that contains sugar because it supports the growth of bacteria in the body. Honeydew melon contains lots of sugar and it is advisable to visit health professional to recommend how often you can consume it.
Considering the above listed side effects of honeydew melon, you might be thinking of putting a stop to it consumption. But truth be told, as human, we cannot do without consuming fruit, consciously or unconsciously. It is either we eat it directly or we have it as part of the food, snacks or drink’s component that we take on a daily basis.
You will agree with me that fruits plays a major role in generation of some important vitamins that contributes immensely to human development and it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt but we should also put into proper consideration that just one side effect of honeydew melon can override every benefit and roles that it plays in our well-being.
We don’t have to shy away from all these, but most importantly, we must take an intentional effort towards seeking guidelines from health professionals to put us the right way and how to consume honeydew melon. The history of honeydew melon can be traced back to Western Asia, West African and Middle East.
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