I just got a watermelon from my local farmers market. It is delicious, but has tons of the black seeds, so I inevitably ate some. Then I started to wonder if they are nutritious. If so, why do people usually spit them out?

Too much Protein is not a good thing. The Seed
is not meant to be eaten....WY

I agree that seeds should be limited. Just go here and type in watermelon.....and select seeds.....so you can decide for yourself the nutritional value:

[www.nal.usda.gov]

-Hope this is helpful.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

I also read that we should not eat seeds. I thought the black watermelone seeds were kid of bitter. may be the ones I tasted.

Take care
A Iyer

i read years ago in sunfood diet
that watermelon eaten as a whole
(not the entire watermelon, altho i've done that too)
a whole meaning: flesh, seeds and rind
is the closest to perfect of all foods
in macronutrients
for one food in and of itself

i believe that is how i have been able to go
for many summers thriving on only watermelon

but everyone is different

I really enjoy eating the seeds with my watermelon... and i know making a tea from them is good for the kidneys... I started eating them after a shaman frend of mine said absolutely they are good for you... i've had no problems so far...except that where i am staying it is hard to find a watermelon that has seeds... why do humans thing we can do better than mother nature...

love laugh and dream

i might add
if you do decide to eat the seeds
it is important to chew them thoroughly

I always eat the seeds that come with the whole foods I eat. When I have a choice between seeded and seedless foods I get the food with the seeds. Seeds are a storehouse of nutrients that feed either the young plant or the person that eats them. I highly recommend eating the whole food including the well chewed seeds.

If you buy Organic Watermelons, you can eat the Flesh,
and juice the Rind, but I still wouldn't eat the Seeds.
The Seed, in all fruits, is too much concentrated Nutrition
for the human body. It might give you a feeling similar to
eating Meat. Excessive Body Stimulation is not my Goal, but I shouldn't
speak for anyone else......WY

I eat the rind of organic watermelons. It takes like cucumbers, which makes sense because watermelons and cucumbers are in the some family. I am still not sure about the seeds though.

Part of me thinks that the food we eat will tell us if it is appropriate or not. For example, animals in the wild can differentiate between food that is good for them or poisonous by it's taste. Sometimes they will taste a berry and spit it out if it tastes bad, but if it tastes good then it is healthy. Apple seeds contain arsenic and are unhealthy for humans, and they also taste bad to us. Watermelon seeds tastes fine and are easy to eat, so maybe they are all right.

"...a good source of Phosphorus, Zinc and Manganese, and a very good source of Magnesium." [www.nutritiondata.com]

"Watermelon seeds are rich in fat and protein... In China watermelon seeds are one of the most common snack foods, competing with sunflower seeds, and sold roasted and seasoned... In West Africa, they are pressed for oil, and are popular in egusi soup and other dishes." [en.wikipedia.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2008 03:44AM by loeve.

In the Philippines they roast/eat the watermelon seeds like the pumpkin seeds.

Hello:

I know this is an older post, however people are always talking about watermelon seeds... Where are they???

Seeds contain the blue print of a tree, plant or flower (aka DNA). It has been hypothesized that the DNA in seeds help repair our own DNA. I do not mean, fix a phenotype or genotype problem that you were born with, but to prevent poor copies of the genes which deteriorate over time.

In the case of watermelon seeds, they contain CATALASE. Catalase is an enzyme involved in several reactions by the body and frequently used by the immune system in order to modulate, control and erradicate invading organisms. This immune system phenomenon is called ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) pathway which neutralizes hydrogen peroxide through the SOD (Super Oxide Dismutase). Yes, our bodies have the ability of creating H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) to kill an invader, but it has to be quickly disassembled in order to prevent excessive oxidation. So in essence, CATALASE is one of the more powerful Biological ANTIOXIDANTS available. Find out more through research.

Joel

carlossjoel

<<This immune system phenomenon is called ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) pathway which neutralizes hydrogen peroxide through the SOD (Super Oxide Dismutase). Yes, our bodies have the ability of creating H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) to kill an invader, but it has to be quickly disassembled in order to prevent excessive oxidation. >>

good point ... made me think of how water is treated with chlorine ( parallel to H2O3) to kill bacteria however at home, you use charcoal (like ROS) to take out the chlorine

seeds are definitely the powerhouse goldmine that they were designed to be

these miniature entities create/feed the ginormous breathtaking entities that they become

the entire process of gestation is

quite stunning and miraculous

there is so much intricate choreography electron by electron , proton by proton and enormous collaboration between so many factors in order to create a single fruit bearing tree

it is easy to see why people "pray" over their foods

there is a lot to be in awe of

According to Edgar Cayce watermelon seeds, when crushed up and used to make a tea, are good for cleaning the kidneys and bladder. I used to use them that way when I was young before most of the watermelons with seeds were shipped to the third world because Americans voted with their money that seedless watermelons were better. I found the watermelon tea astringent but don't know if it worked as Cayce said it would. Better as a tea than eating them, though, IMO.

I actually found seeded watermelons at Aldi's, of all places. A woman from the South told me that they are used to make pickled watermelon rind or something and they only use the seeded varieties because they taste better. So I started buying them last year, despite my reservations that they would be a pain in the butt to spit out. It turns out that they are very easy to crunch and it's actually easier than spitting them out. It was perfectly fine and I don't see why it would be a problem because they didn't taste bitter, nor were they too hard to chew.

The seeds of all the melons and squashes are good to eat. One way to do it is to blend them and then strain the resulting milk thru a nylon mesh bag.

Alot of fruit seeds should not be eaten tho. Many seeds in the rose family (peaches, cherries, nectarines, apricots, plums, apple, pear ...) contain cyanide and can be bad if many are consumed. There is an apricot with an edible seed in SE Asia and the almond (just an apricot with a dried up fruit part) is edible but wild almonds (bitter almonds) revert to their high cyanide heritage. The seeds of the edible yew berry are so lethal that they can stop your heart before you finish chewing them.

banana who Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I actually found seeded watermelons at Aldi's, of
> all places.

Yeah, they are still available in the US in ethnic markets and institutions, too - but they are never organically grown and stand a huge chance of having been grown with unsanitary water and tons of chemicals.

Last time I tried one I could taste the chemicals in the flesh. This is one reason why when people say the water content in fruit is distilled I don't believe them.

Sue Z., I disagree with this. First of all, I don't think that watermelon is one of the dirty dozen so it's not risky to eat in its conventional form. And how in the heck can you taste chemicals THROUGH the rind?

Don't you think it's odd that Whole Foods would sell organic watermelons that are seedless but never seeded? And for the record, much of the fruits that I see at WF's are conventional.

Because this is used for a special regional dish, I doubt the people would enjoy seeded watermelon if it tasted like chemicals.

Chemicals can get into the watermelon and any food that is sprayed. A bunch of people died from watermelons that had been sprayed in California a few decades ago. So there could be alot of sublethal foods out there where the chemicals permeate into the plant tissue. This goes for any food and is why organic is recommended. I've heard strawberries are one of the worst as far as spraying goes.

Pathogens would not get in, though, as the plant absorbs the water on a molecular level.

Brome, let's use simple logic here. A strawberry sprayed will be consumed in its entirety. There is no rind, no peel. A watermelon has a thick rind.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2014 03:31PM by banana who.

Here is some info I googled:

Quote

Pesticide food poisoning from contaminated watermelons in California, 1985.
Goldman LR, Smith DF, Neutra RR, Saunders LD, Pond EM, Stratton J, Waller K, Jackson RJ, Kizer KW.
Author information
Abstract

Aldicarb, a carbamate pesticide, is the most potent pesticide in the market and has a LD50 of 1 mg/kg. In the United States it is illegal to use aldicarb on certain crops, e.g., watermelons, because it is incorporated into the flesh of the fruit. Once an accidental or illegal use of such a potent pesticide occurs, there is no easy way for the agricultural or public health system to protect the populace. This paper describes the impact of one such event upon the health of individuals and the institutions of California. On July 4, 1985, California and other western states experienced the largest known outbreak of food-borne pesticide illness ever to occur in North America. This was attributed to watermelons contaminated through the illegal or accidental use of aldicarb by a few farmers in one part of the state. Within California, a total of 1,376 illnesses resulting from consumption of watermelons was reported to the California Department of Health Services (CDHS). Of the 1,376 illnesses, 77% were classified as being probable or possible carbamate illnesses. Many of the case reports involved multiple illnesses associated with the same melon among unrelated individuals. Seventeen individuals required hospitalization. There were 47 reports of illness involving pregnant women, two of whom reported having subsequent stillbirths.

[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

[www.environmentalhealthnews.org]

Any pesticide that gets into the water can be taken up by the roots and into the flesh of the fruit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2014 06:41PM by brome.

brome Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is some info I googled:
>
> Pesticide food poisoning from contaminated
> watermelons in California, 1985.
> Goldman LR, Smith DF, Neutra RR, Saunders LD, Pond
> EM, Stratton J, Waller K, Jackson RJ, Kizer KW.
> Author information
> Abstract
>
> Aldicarb, a carbamate pesticide, is the most
> potent pesticide in the market and has a LD50 of 1
> mg/kg. In the United States it is illegal to use
> aldicarb on certain crops, e.g., watermelons,
> because it is incorporated into the flesh of the
> fruit. Once an accidental or illegal use of such a
> potent pesticide occurs, there is no easy way for
> the agricultural or public health system to
> protect the populace. This paper describes the
> impact of one such event upon the health of
> individuals and the institutions of California. On
> July 4, 1985, California and other western states
> experienced the largest known outbreak of
> food-borne pesticide illness ever to occur in
> North America. This was attributed to watermelons
> contaminated through the illegal or accidental use
> of aldicarb by a few farmers in one part of the
> state. Within California, a total of 1,376
> illnesses resulting from consumption of
> watermelons was reported to the California
> Department of Health Services (CDHS). Of the 1,376
> illnesses, 77% were classified as being probable
> or possible carbamate illnesses. Many of the case
> reports involved multiple illnesses associated
> with the same melon among unrelated individuals.
> Seventeen individuals required hospitalization.
> There were 47 reports of illness involving
> pregnant women, two of whom reported having
> subsequent stillbirths.
>
> [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
>
> [www.environmentalhealthnews.org]
> dicarb-phaseout
>
> Any pesticide that gets into the water can be
> taken up by the roots and into the flesh of the
> fruit.

Thanks for all of this very useful info, Brome!

I fixed the link (posted above) to this good article on the watermelon poisonings:

[www.environmentalhealthnews.org]

brome Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I fixed the link (posted above) to this good
> article on the watermelon poisonings:
>
> [www.environmentalhealthnews.org]
> dicarb-phaseout


The link worked fine earlier today. Don't know why these .gov site pages get lost and found so frequently. Weird.

What about pumpkin seeds like Pepitas then? Are they not good for you?

I've been eating these Activated Organic Pepitas.