Eating fruits and vegetables is not often thought of as a “treatment.” But according to researchers, there are more than 100 million people worldwide who have vitamin A deficiency, and for some of them, consuming fruits and vegetables is the most available treatment. That’s because people in many parts of the world do not have access to vitamin supplements. Select fruits and vegetables contain carotenoids such as beta-carotene, also known as “provitamin A.” Beta-carotene is the most potent precursor of vitamin A for humans (meaning the body breaks down beta-carotene into vitamin A).
Two excellent sources of beta-carotene are cantaloupe and the orange-fleshed honeydew melon, which is a cross between cantaloupe and green-fleshed honeydew. The orange-fleshed honeydew melon is sweeter and stores longer than the typical cantaloupe melon.
Little is known about the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the orange-fleshed melon’s carotenoids. Before a consumer can make use of a fruit’s nutrients, the nutrients must first be released from the fruit tissues—becoming “bioaccessible”—and then they can be absorbed into the circulation—becoming “bioavailable.”
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