A cantaloupe is a juicy alkaline fruit that many people around the world eat, especially in the summer. The exterior of cantaloupe is tough and looks like a net and the inside has an orange-colored look. It’s a tasty fruit that people sometimes chop up and mix with other fruits, such as watermelon, strawberries and blueberries.
Like other alkaline fruit, cantaloupes have several health benefits. The fruit is loaded with fiber, niacin, folate, and minerals and they are also low in sodium, fat, and cholesterol. Cantaloupes are also essential for maintaining strong antioxidant defense that shields cells and other areas of the body from free radicals, and can ultimately inhibit endometrial, prostate, breast, lung, colon, and pancreatic cancers, according to sources.
In a study, researchers showed that the superoxide dismutase (SOD) (a powerful anti-oxidant enzyme that repairs cells and reduces damage done by superoxide, the most common free radical in the body) in cantaloupes are essential in the fight against cancer cells.
“Our results indicate that targeting SOD may be a promising approach to the selective killing of cancer cells, and that mechanism-based combinations of SOD inhibitors with free-radical-producing agents may have clinical applications.”
Another study was conducted to evaluate the SOD activity in cantaloupe extracts. In result, the researchers showed the importance of superoxide dismutase activity for the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions of different parts of the body.
More studies have linked cantaloupe to having the ability to lower breast cancer risk.