WHAT A MELON!

Loaded with vital vitamins and heart-healthy extras, watermelon is well worth a spot on your veg rack

There’s much debate as to whether watermelon should be classified as a fruit or vegetable, because although it’s the ripened ovary of a seed plant – the loose definition of a fruit – it’s also planted from seeds and harvested like other vegetables. Thought to originate from southern Africa, the watermelon plant has sprawling stems that can grow up to three metres in length. Today, China is the world’s single largest watermelon producer, cultivating more than 66 million of them every year.

SUCK IT AND C

Just one cup of watermelon provides 20 per cent of your daily vitamin C requirements and 17 per cent of your vitamin A. The former has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and improve asthma symptoms, while regular doses of vitamin A is particularly effective at alleviating the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Even more impressive is its unrivalled lycopene content, a runner-friendly phytochemical essential to bone and cardiovascular health.

Because 91 per cent of a watermelon is water, it comes into its own as a refreshing post-training snack – just cut into bite-sized chunks. Those with loftier melon ambitions could rustle up a thirst-quenching watermelon and basil iced tea or some lamb and mintedwatermelon kebabs.