Rosenberg Wellness Center 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 carve it into scary, funny, silly looks for Halloween and puree it up for a Thanksgiving pie! Rosenberg Wellness Center is playing with the pumpkin’s quandry and confesses to liking the pumpkin fun while also appreciating its tasty, healthy aspects for our New York City chiropractic patients who are being treated for back pain or neck pain and their supporting families.
RESPECT FOR THE HEALTHFUL PUMPKIN
Appreciation for the pumpkin keeps growing! The well recognized pumpkin or squash of the cucurbita moschata species of fruits is hot tolerant and resistant to insects and disease…as well as the essential ingredient for great pumpkin pies! (1) Well-known for being nutrient-dense and recipe-flexible, the pumpkin is said to be 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, and more. (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 pretty fall fruit we cut into jack-o-lanterns that young and old alike enjoy…including Rosenberg Wellness Center and our New York City chiropractic families!
AGE MATTERS
Age is of importance in the pumpkin's and the human's lifespan! For the pumpkin, the mature stage of its ripening – versus the young and ripened stages – had the highest phenolic and flavonoid content (33 compounds!), the greatest antioxidant activity, and the greatest antibacterial activity. (4) For the human, aging generates increasingly more molecular damage to cells in reaction to oxidative stress from environmental, lifestyle, and disease factors. The proper intake of antioxidants is key as we age. The cucurbita fruits (types of pumpkin/squash) are high in these antioxidants as well as in zinc and copper. Researchers even suggested that these should be eaten daily! (5) Our aging cells would appreciate that! In a study of extracted seed oils like pumpkin, melon, and black cumin, researchers discovered a bunch of useful cytoprotective – cell-protecting - properties linked to the prevention of age-related diseases precipitated by oxidative stress. (6) Rosenberg Wellness Center is all about protecting cells and the well-being of our New York City chiropractic patients.
CONTACT Rosenberg Wellness Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the importance of managing inflammation as well as chiropractic spinal manipulation treatment with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your New York City chiropractic appointment soon. Rosenberg Wellness Center appreciates the pumpkin for all its nutritional benefit. And we still anticipate the annual cutting, decorating, and cooking!
