Are Watermelon Seeds Bad for You?

Watermelon is one of my favorite fruits. Growing up, my mom always told me to spit out the black seeds because I wasn’t supposed to eat them. I never believed that a watermelon would grow inside of me, but I was curious as to why you couldn’t. Are watermelon seeds actually bad for you or is that just a myth?

sprouted seedsAccording to the Huffington Post, there is some truth behind that lie. You shouldn’t necessarily eat them after cutting the watermelon open. You can eat them, but they have to go through a process called sprouting. Sprouting “removes compounds in the food that make it difficult to absorb all of its nutrients, increases nutrient density and makes the food easier to digest.” By sprouting the watermelon seeds, it also removes the unappealing black shell of the seeds.

Now that we know we can eat them, should we even eat them? Yes! Watermelon seeds are good for multiple reasons. According to Livestrong, they are a good source of protein, B vitamins, minerals, and fats.

Protein

Watermelon seeds are a great source of protein. With just one cup of seeds, you are getting 30.6 grams of protein. This actually makes up 61 percent of the recommended daily serving.

B Vitamins

Watermelon seeds contain several B vitamins. The most important one is niacin, which has about 3.8 grams in one cup. This contributes to 19 percent of the recommended daily serving. Other B Vitamins include thiamin, riboflavin, folate, and pantothenic acid.

Minerals

Watermelon seeds contain several minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, sodium, and several others. By far, magnesium is the most important. One cup of magnesium contain 556 mg, which is about 139 percent of the recommended daily serving. Magnesium is extremely important because it helps your metabolism and blood pressure.

Fats

Lastly, watermelon seeds contain 51 grams of fat in one cup. Some of these fats include monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and omega-6 fatty acids.

It’s funny to think that we once thought that swallowing a seed would lead to a watermelon growing in our stomachs! Net time you eat a watermelon, try sprouting them and eating them. Who knows, you make love them. Sprouting may take some time, but here’s how to do it!

watermelon

3 thoughts on “Are Watermelon Seeds Bad for You?

  1. Desiree Nicole Enriquez

    I’ve never heard of such a thing. When I was young I was afraid to eat the seeds but my mom told me to get over it. Now I eat them without second thought. Maybe I should try sprouting and see how she’ll like them. It definitely makes sense as a preparation for eating, just like with green beans and the like.

  2. Isabel Linares-Martin Post author

    I agree with Xingchen. If I could conduct my own experiment it would be interesting to see how many people spit out the watermelon seeds. I think it has become a very common thing to assume that watermelon seeds cannot be eaten, but if we inform people of the benefits we could see a big change in the way people eat watermelons.

  3. Xingchen Zhou

    It’s a interesting joke at the end, and I also heard about that before. The nutrition of the watermelon seeds is not emphasized until this article. Normally, people regret the seeds they ate by mistake when they are eating watermelons.
    The nutrition of the watermelon seeds is very clear, the whole article is very scientific. In further studies, probably you can random people to eat watermelon seeds, and to find out how it helps our body and whether it’s worth to eat it.
    The link is about the benefits of having watermelon seeds.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/14/watermelon-seeds-benefits_n_7054996.html

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