Cantaloupe vs watermelon: calories compared

By calories, the gap is small. A cup of cantaloupe has about 54 calories and a cup of watermelon about 46.

What the table cannot show is food safety. In an Australian Salmonella outbreak, people who got sick had about 24 times the odds of having eaten cantaloupe. In a 2023 outbreak in the UK, the odds were about 14 times. Watermelon has its own outbreak. In New Zealand in 2009, people who fell ill were seven times more likely to have eaten it.

On health, the evidence points in two directions. Pooled trials of watermelon found lower systolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, and also a rise in fasting blood sugar. We hold no trial of cantaloupe as a fruit. In pooled US cohorts of nurses and health professionals it was linked to slightly more type 2 diabetes, a hazard ratio of 1.10 per three servings a week. That is an association, not proof of cause.

For either melon, the FDA advises scrubbing the rind with a clean produce brush and refrigerating anything bought cut. The CDC's Listeria advice is to skip cut melon left out more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F, or kept in the fridge more than a week. It matters most if you are pregnant, 65 or older, or have a weakened immune system.

Evidence behind this note

1. Level C An Australian outbreak in 2006 found the same pattern even more sharply: cantaloupe eaters had 24 times the odds of Salmonella Saintpaul illness (adjusted OR 23.9, 95% CI 5.1 to 112.4), and the outbreak strain was found on the skin of two melons from the implicated retailer. Epidemiol Infect, 2009
2. Level C In the 2023 UK and Portugal outbreak investigation, eating cantaloupe raised the odds of Salmonella Saintpaul infection about 14-fold (adjusted odds ratio 14.22, 95% CI 2.83 to 71.43), and 46% of the 98 cases were children under 10. Epidemiol Infect, 2024
3. Level C In a 2009 New Zealand Salmonella outbreak, 15 cases were seven times more likely than 40 controls to have eaten watermelon, traced to one grower. N Z Med J, 2010
4. Level A Watermelon lowered blood pressure and cholesterol in pooled trials, and raised fasting blood sugar. Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 2023
5. Level C Across three US cohorts with 3.5 million person-years, cantaloupe was the one whole fruit that moved the wrong way for type 2 diabetes: hazard ratio 1.10 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.18) per three servings a week, against 0.74 for blueberries. BMJ, 2013
6. Level E For cantaloupe, FDA advises scrubbing firm produce such as melons with a clean produce brush, buying pre-cut produce such as half a watermelon only if refrigerated or surrounded by ice, refrigerating all pre-cut or packaged produce, and storing perishable fruit at 40°F or below. FDA, Selecting and Serving Produce Safely
7. Level E For cantaloupe and other melons, CDC Listeria advice says to avoid cut melon left out for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F, and cut melon kept in the refrigerator for more than a week, and to choose melon that has just been cut. CDC lists pregnant women, newborns, people 65 or older and people with a weakened immune system as at higher risk. CDC, Preventing Listeria Infection

Written from the studies and agency guidance we hold for both foods, reviewed by the Bioma editorial system. How we verify.

Read more about these foods

• Cantaloupe: most of the evidence is about safety
• Watermelon: the trials are really about an amino acid

What the studies say

• Is cantaloupe safe during pregnancy? Usually, and the risk is Listeria
• Is watermelon good for weight loss? Trials show no change in BMI or body fat
• Is watermelon good during pregnancy? It helped in one trial in severe pregnancy sickness

Rankings and guides

• Calories: what it does and what the evidence shows
• Which foods give the most protein for the fewest calories?
• Dietary fat: what it does and how much you need
• Cantaloupe: full nutrition facts
• Watermelon: full nutrition facts

More comparisons

• Cantaloupe vs honeydew melon

• Cantaloupe: USDA FoodData Central, Melons, cantaloupe, raw, FDC ID 746770 · full profile · all forms of cantaloupe
• Watermelon: USDA FoodData Central, Watermelon, raw, FDC ID 167765 · full profile · all forms of watermelon

Each food is one USDA entry, chosen as it is usually eaten. Other cuts, brands and preparations differ; the links show them. % DV uses FDA Daily Values for adults. How we verify.