So, Dr. Bhimu Patil at Texas A&M University decided that the 4th of July would be a great time to hype watermelon as a sex drug. Turns out that it’s all just hype. In this press release, Dr. Patil touts the citruline in watermelon as having “Viagra like effects.” To say that this overstates the case is understanding the wrongness of it. Citruline is converted to arginine in the body. Arginine is an amino acid that is important for a variety of things including production of nitric oxide which improves the elasticity of blood vessels and more importantly the expansile properties of erectile tissues.

Arginine is a great amino acid, I recommend it all the time not just for it’s blood vessel function improvement but almost more importantly to stimulate release of growth hormone. There is even some controversy over that and whether it should be taken only at night or with other amino acids. Injectable arginine definitely releases growth hormone, though it has to be IV and high dose. Regardless, citrulline is not going to convert magically to some incarnation of arginine that works as well as or even particularly like drugs like Viagra. There’s a great rant on that subject here.

To increase the absurdity of consuming watermelon for it’s citrulline, this study demonstrated increases in serum arginine with consumption of 3 glasses of watermelon juice per day. Every day. Nobody I know likes watermelon quite that much.

Dr. Patil does note something far more interesting, though.  Watermelon is apparently also a major source of lycopene. Mind you, tomotoes are a tremendous source of lycopene but getting a little more of this powerful anti-oxidant at a summer picnic isn’t a bad idea. Anti-oxidants are always a good idea, even if lycopene doesn’t cure anything in particular.