Watermelon, as the name suggests, contains the highest quantity of water amongst all fruits. It is a common fruit, grown on sandy soils during the summer months.
MEDICINAL USES
• One of the striking features of the Watermelon is that it is a rich source of potassium. So, it can be used as a safe diuretic for conditions such as urinary stones, scanty urination, metabolic acidosis, an extreme situation in diabetes, starvation etc.
• It is usually given as a supplement, with excellent effects, in cardiovascular and renal disorders associated with sodium and water retention. However, in kidney failure with severe uremia, it does not help much.
• Watermelon quenches morbid thirst, provides the mineral lost due to excessive perspiration, gives a ‘cooling’ effect to the body and protects from the bad effects of heat radiation.
• You can either eat the melon directly or drink its juice along with glucose, honey, or lime juice. It also acts as a dehydrating agent in gastroenteritis, cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, nausea, and vomiting.
• If you have a burning sensation, especially in conditions like jaundice, biliousness, headaches, dryness of the mouth, urinary tract infections, a glassful of juice mixed with equal quantities of buttermilk and a pinch of common salt is an excellent remedy.
• Some hakeems treat insanity, hysteria, insomnia, and other psychological conditions with watermelon. A ripe fruit is cut into two halves and the pulp is scooped out, to make it hollow. It is then put as a cap on the shaved head of the patient for three hours and replaced with another one. The process is repeated three to four times a day for four days.
• Its mild bleaching property makes the skin fairer. Take a fresh water melon and make a hole. Push three handfuls of raw rice, a handful of dry peas, a pinch of camphor and two teaspoonfuls of lime juice through this opening. Keep it aside for a week. Dry them in shade and powder. Take a tablespoonful of this powder, mix with milk, and apply as face pack before going to bed.
• Melon seeds have cooling, soothing, diuretic, vermifuge, and nutritive effects. For high blood pressure, scanty urination with burning sensation, loss of weight, blood vomiting in tuberculosis, intake of milky juice of watermelon seeds along with poppy seeds, almonds, sugar and honey, acts as a good medicine.