Watermelon for Blood Pressure Regulation

Research suggests that citrulline — an amino acid found in high concentrations in watermelon — may help reduce systolic blood pressure, particularly in postmenopausal women with hypertension, with one systematic review of 12 randomized controlled trials reporting reductions of up to 9 mmHg in some studies. Animal research using mice on high-fat diets found that various parts of the watermelon plant, including the flesh, rind, and skin, were associated with improvements in fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, though direct implications for blood pressure in humans remain unclear from this work. It should be noted that one of the three linked studies examined fetal pancreatic epigenetic development and does not bear meaningfully on watermelon's effects on blood pressure. Overall, the evidence base is limited and variable — relying heavily on a single systematic review and animal data — and researchers themselves caution that findings are too inconsistent to support formal clinical recommendations at this time.