7 Surprising Health Benefits of Cantaloupe You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner

Colourful and sweet, cantaloupe is low in calories yet packed with essential nutrients that help lower your risk for certain diseases and help to keep you looking and feeling great.

Cantaloupe is Good for Your Hair

Cantaloupe’s most potent vitamins-A and C-are essential to helping us maintain strong, healthy hair and just one serving (about one-quarter of a melon) contains 100 per cent of the recommended daily allowances of both. Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is required for sebum production, a compound that keeps our scalp and hair moisturized and healthy while vitamin C is needed for the building and maintenance of collagen, which provides structure to skin and hair, explains Melissa Majumdar, RD, and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Vitamin C also helps with the absorption of iron,” she explains. Iron deficiency is linked to hair loss, but you should always have your iron status checked before supplementing-too much iron can be toxic to the body, she says.

Cantaloupe Helps Keep Your Skin Healthy

Read the fine print on your favourite facial moisturizer and you’re likely to find “stabilized retinol,” also knows as vitamin A, among the ingredients. Research shows that the antioxidant has been proven to improve sun-damaged skin as well as repair, moisturize, and stabilize skin’s collagen production. While using skincare products high in vitamins A and C, which also contributes to photoprotection, are important, isolating the nutrients is not as beneficial as eating a whole food, says Majumdar. “Finding a food high in vitamin A, C, and fluid such as cantaloupe is the hat trick.” To boost the health benefits of eating foods rich in vitamin A, she suggests combining them with healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, or almonds. Eating cantaloupe with these foods can help with the absorption of vitamin A because it is a fat-soluble vitamin, she explains. “Think about having cantaloupe in a salad drizzled with olive oil, as a snack with a handful of almonds, or combined with a piece of salmon.”

Cantaloupe Helps Keep You Hydrated

Eating cantaloupe is not only a refreshing, low-calorie dessert, its high-water content helps keep you hydrated, especially on hot summer days or after an intense workout. “Cantaloupe is high in potassium, an electrolyte that we lose when we sweat,” says Ginger Hultin, RD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Eating cantaloupe or other foods high in potassium as a post-workout snack helps our body recover and lessens the chance for muscle cramps and fatigue.

Cantaloupe May Ward Off the Effects of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

A mounting body of research shows that eating the right foods can help ward off age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of legal blindness in people over age 60, according to the American Optometric Association. Studies show that the development of the disease is linked to depleted macular pigment, the retinal layer that filters out harmful blue light waves and reduces the number of free radicals in the macular area. “Antioxidants like zeazanthin and lutein found in cantaloupe have been shown to protect the eye and scavenge free radicals in the retina,” says Hultin. Another study shows that eating three servings of fruit a day affects eye health and decreases the risk of age-related macular degeneration. As an added boost, vitamin C, also found in cantaloupe, has been shown to slow the progression of cataracts.

Cantaloupe is Good for Your Heart

Cantaloupe contains several ingredients-fibre, potassium, and vitamin C-that contribute to keeping our heart healthy. “Foods high in fibre help control blood pressure and lower LDL, the bad cholesterol,” says Majumdar. Just one cup of cubed cantaloupe contains 1.5 grams of fibre or five per cent of the daily requirement, explains Hultin. “If you have it for breakfast or a snack, you are on your way to meeting the national fibre recommendations.” Consuming foods that are high in potassium help to lower blood pressure and may reduce the risk of stroke, the formation of kidney stones, and protect against loss of muscle mass and bone mineral density. “Potassium helps lower blood pressure by counteracting the effects of sodium,” says Majumdar. Cantaloupe and other fruits are part of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, which helps to lower blood pressure. 

Cantaloupe Helps with Digestion

Cantaloupe contains both soluble and insoluble fibre, which work together for bowel health, helping to prevent constipation and maintain a healthy digestive tract. “Cantaloupe, as well as other foods with fibre, act as food for gut bacteria,” says Majumdar. Having a healthy digestive tract helps ward off conditions such as diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome, and eating a high-fibre diet has been shown to reduce the risk of colon cancer. (Here are more foods that can reduce your colon cancer risk.) The Institute of Medicine recommends consuming 21 to 38 grams of fibre daily (depending on calorie needs, age, and sex), and cantaloupe offers about 1.5 grams of fibre in one cup of melon balls. “Eating foods that contain fibre rather than taking a fibre supplement helps us get different types of fibre,” says Majumdar.

Cantaloupe Satiates the Appetite and Helps Control Hunger

Foods high in fibre such as cantaloupe are filling, says Mujamdar, and filling foods help us feel satisfied, control hunger, and aid with weight control. Cantaloupe is naturally low in calories (about 60 calories in one-quarter of a melon) and contains no fat or cholesterol. The sweetness of the cantaloupe, which contains 14 grams of sugar per serving, can help satisfy cravings for something sweet, especially after a meal. “The bright colour of the food also helps us eat with our eyes and enjoy our food,” says Majumdar.

Be Sure to Wash Cantaloupe Before Consuming

While the tough-skinned fruits are known for being sweet and delicious on the inside, they are grown in direct contact with soil, which makes them prone to becoming contaminated with bacteria such as E.coli, listeria, and salmonella. When bacteria contaminates the rind of the melon, and it is not washed properly, the bacteria can be transferred to the melon flesh when it is cut open. It’s tough outer surface also makes it more difficult to wash, says Hultin. She recommends following food safety guidelines and using a gentle veggie brush to wash the fruit thoroughly before cutting it open. “Cantaloupe is a food that can trigger foodborne illness if not properly handled,” says Majumdar. “Also, because the melon is high in water and low in acid, it is a breeding zone for bacteria.” Keep cut cantaloupe in the refrigerator and wash hands, knives, and cutting boards after cutting the outside of the melon, she says.