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  • From: "Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] New low-sugar watermelon developed
  • Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:58:38 -0500

Title: New low-sugar watermelon developed

Posted on Sun, Jul. 22, 2007
New low-sugar watermelon developed
Cox News Service
WASHINGTON | Turning the centuries-long search for sweeter and sweeter watermelons on its head, Department of Agriculture plant breeders have developed a low-sugar variety.

The new melons are green on the outside and red on the inside but contain less than half as much sugar as conventional varieties.

The department’s Agricultural Research Service thinks the new melons will be welcomed by the 21 million diabetics in the United States.

“A little artificial sweetener can be sprinkled onto the fruit to give it a flavor that’s comparable to conventional watermelons,” said Erin Peabody, a spokeswoman for the Agricultural Research Service.

Speaking for the American Dietetic Association, Christine Gerbstadt questioned the need for low-sugar fruit.
Gerbstadt, a physician and registered dietician, said she encourages diabetic patients to eat melon and other fresh fruit, “as long as it’s in controlled portions.”

“Fresh fruit is not a particularly expensive fruit, in terms of raising blood sugar,” she noted.
Although watermelon contains lower sugar concentrations than many other fruits — less than half as much as a banana, for example — it often is eaten in much larger servings.

The new melon retains the fruit’s rich concentrations of vitamin A, potassium and the antioxidant lycopene.





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