Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries Shares Pumpkins Nutritional Benefits
“Respect the pumpkin! Respect the pumpkin!” Poor thing! The pumpkin wants to share its healthy gifts with us! What do we do? We cut the pumpkin into spooky, funny, goofy images for Halloween and mash it up for a Thanksgiving pie! Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries is playing with the pumpkin’s quandry and confesses to liking the pumpkin fun while also appreciating its tasty, healthy aspects for our Manchester chiropractic patients who are being treated for back pain or neck pain and their supportive families.
RESPECT FOR THE NUTRITIOUS PUMPKIN
Appreciation for the pumpkin grows and grows! The well recognized pumpkin or squash of the cucurbita moschata species of fruits is insect-, disease-, and hot-tolerant…as well as the most common ingredient for amazing pumpkin pies! (1) Well-known for being nutrient-full and recipe-flexible, the pumpkin is described as a potent source of proteins, metabolites, carbohydrates, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, tocopherols, carotenoids, tryptophans, sterols, and more. A few of its most promising functional properties recognized today are wound healing, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-ulcerative, spermatogenesis-enhancing, etc. (2) The scent, flavor, and color attributes of the pumpkin - terpenoids (oxygen-containing metabolites that contribute to aromatic scent and flavor and even color) and carotenoids (tetraterpenoids responsible for color) - are quite nutritious. (3) All this in the beautiful fall fruit we cut into jack-o-lanterns enjoyed by young and old…including Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries and our Manchester chiropractic families!
AGE MATTERS
Age is significant in the lifespan of the pumpkin and the human! For the pumpkin, the mature stage of its ripening – as opposed to the young and ripened stages – had the greatest phenolic and flavonoid content (33 compounds!), the highest antioxidant activity, and the highest antibacterial activity. (4) For the human, aging generates increasingly more molecular injury to cells in reaction to oxidative stress due to environmental, lifestyle, and disease issues. A key to proper diet as we age is an appropriate intake of antioxidants. The cucurbita fruits (varieties of pumpkin/squash) are great in these antioxidants as well as in zinc and copper. Researchers even proposed that these should be consumed every day! (5) Our aging cells would appreciate that! In a study of extracted seed oils like pumpkin, melon, and black cumin, researchers found a bunch of beneficial cytoprotective – cell-protecting - properties related to preventing age-related diseases triggered by oxidative stress. (6) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries is in favor of protecting cells and the well-being of our Manchester chiropractic patients.
CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the importance of controlling inflammation as well as chiropractic spinal manipulation treatment with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Make your Manchester chiropractic appointment soon. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries appreciates the pumpkin for all its nutritional value. And we still anticipate the annual carving, decorating, and cooking!
