The Healthy Sitka Pumpkin: Decorative and Nutritious

October 03, 2023

The pumpkin. Ornate. Recognizable. Valuable from its being anti-anxiety to anti-viral and so much more! Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka shares just how nutritious and useful the Cucurbita maxima, pumpkin’s formal Latin name, is, a vegetable whose flesh, seed, peel, flower, and leaves all provide nutrients our Sitka chiropractic patients can take advantage of. Extraordinary levels of minerals, flavonoids, carotenes, phenols, and total antioxidant activity are plentiful in the leaves and flowers while the seed is loaded with nutrients and amino acids. All sections of the pumpkin have powerful nutrients! (1) Nutrition info like this is a part of the chiropractic service we deliver. This fall, maybe our Sitka chiropractic patients want to think twice about tossing your pumpkin in the trash!

DECORATIVE, DERMATOLOGICAL, AND MUCH MORE: anti-inflammatory, anti-anxiolic, non-irritating, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiviral

The Cucurbita maxima is well-known for its decorative appeal as well as economic value and as a generator of wasted resources when its time is up. Its abundance of bioactive compounds (flavonoids and coumarins) as well as antioxidant and pharmacological value that are just now being appreciated. (2) Pumpkin seed extracts were found to be safe and to offer significant anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties closely comparable with aspirin and brufen/ibuprofen. (3) In the family of winter squash, the pumpkin’s Cucurbita maxima - with its polysaccharide substance as well as its overall phenolic and flavonoid content - has more antidiabetic and antioxidant activities than its related Cucurbita moshata. (4) Another study found that the nutrition of the pumpkin combats several viral infections (like HCV, HIV, ADV7, etc.) with its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. (5) The peel has the highest number of flavonoids. Peel extracts are not cytotoxic or irritating to the skin, making them potentially effective for cosmetic product use. (6) The pumpkin’s value is more than skin deep.

PREVENTIVE OF NIGHT BLINDNESS IN CHILDREN AND EVEN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

What about facilitating the prevention of childhood night blindness said to be an issue around the world? Fortifying yogurt with β-carotene (vitamin A) via pumpkin (and pumpkin pie spice and ground pumpkin seed) was proven to be a nutrient-rich food with the low-cost advantage of potentially averting or reducing childhood blindness. The pumpkin rendered it even more appetizing! (7) The pumpkin seed that they ground up for the yogurt may also reduce the intensity of the central nervous system related anxiety and depression. C. maxima’s secondary metabolites like arginine, β-carotene, quercetin, and other antioxidants may be the advantageous contributors. (8) All these are healthy contributors.

CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Robert Borzone on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to help a patient get back to healthy organic gardening.

Make your Sitka chiropractic appointment soon. No matter the back pain condition, that brought you to our office, enjoy your pretty pumpkin and find a way to use it for your health value!

Sitka chiropractic nutrition info on the pumpkin

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