We hope the cooler weather last week has left us so we can get into the true signs of summer and one of my favorite activities is slicing into a fresh watermelon.

We looked up what AG Daily reporters had to say and we were a little surprised to learn the health benefits watermelon's fruit chemistry can provide.

In the article titled, “Researchers find numerous health benefits in watermelon,” USDA-ARS scientist Larry Parnell when talking watermelon says, “Watermelon could be part of the refreshing and healthy on your summer picnic table.”

I say we don't have to wait for the picnic table to enjoy the rewards you get from this healthy fruit.

The AG Daily article also noted that USDA's Agricultural Research Service recently identified over 1,500 small molecules of diverse chemical characters in the fruit, known as phytochemicals which they concluded that eating watermelon is an excellent way to increase your intake of antioxidants, non-protein amino acids and lycopene…this means that every time you eat watermelon, you'll be improving the health of your cells, organs and nervous system.

ARS researcher Amnon Levi when discussing the benefits of watermelon, in the same AG Daily article, noted, “I worked with Dr. Parnell and the team to develop a pioneering concept of using big data and computational biology to identify and catalog all of the phytochemicals that exist in edible fruit.”

Dr. Parnell pointed out that “the watermelon's phytochemicals are human-cell-protecting compounds found in fruit, vegetables, grains and beans and all these nutrients can contribute to your overall health in numerous ways.”

Wow…who ever knew that a favorite fruit like delicious watermelon actually provided us with human-cell-protecting compounds.

Now I'm sure there will be a rush to your local supermarket when the season for watermelon opens up.