Health Tip: Mullin' Melons

(HealthDayNews) -- Choosing the healthiest melon doesn''t necessarily mean picking the one that looks, feels or sounds the ripest.

Casaba has the fewest calories -- 26 calories for 3 1/2 ounces raw or 2/3 cup, cubed. Watermelon has 32 calories and cantaloupe or honeydew each has 35.

But cantaloupe wins hands down for the most nutrients, according to the "Berkeley Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition." It has the most vitamin C, 42 milligrams; the most potassium, 309 milligrams; and the most beta carotene, 2 milligrams.

Honeydew is not even a close second, with 25 milligrams of vitamin C, 271 milligrams of potassium but only a trace of beta carotene.

Casaba follows, with 16 mg of Vitamin C, 210 milligrams of potassium and again only a trace of beta carotene.

And watermelon, living up to its name, trails the pack: 10 mg of vitamin C, 116 mg of potassium and two-one-hundredths of a milligram of beta carotene.