Pumpkins are not only beautiful to look at, but they are super good for your body when you cook them and eat them. For example, a single cup of cooked pumpkin offers an astounding 170% of your daily need of vitamin A as well as a good dose of the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. This combination is good news for those of us living in the Southern California, the Mojave or Great Basin Desert, and the High Sierra, since vitamin A helps the eyes adapt to bright light, while lutein and zeaxanthin help the eyes cope with daily exposure to certain types of otherwise damaging light waves coming directly from the high mountain and high desert sun.
Pumpkins also contain other types of phytonutrients -- alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin -- which are now believed to lower the risk of lung cancer. (It also helps to stop using tobacco while sitting close to that smoky campfire.)
Pumpkins are high in vitamin E, also a very powerful antioxidant which helps prevent deterioration of body tissues in places like the skin and eyes. Some believe that this vitamin even has reparative powers and can help prevent heart disease, improve lens clarity in the eyes, and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Pumpkins are also high in vitamin C (ascorbic acid), another powerful antioxidant required in humans and other primates for the synthesis of collagen, carnitine and norepinephrine. Vitamin C also helps transform fat into energy, and helps regulate blood cholesterol.
Pumpkin flesh is also high in dietary fiber, that needed combination of cellulose and pectin (the beneficial carbohydrates) that helps promote peristalsis in the alimentary canal, thereby keeping the intestine in good working order.
The flesh also includes other beneficial nutrients like magnesium, folate and potassium. Pumpkin seeds, a deliciously nutty treat any time of the year, provide needed iron, zinc, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, manganese, copper, as well as cucurbitacins and amino acids. The oil from the seeds also provides omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids in combination with L-tryptophan, also found in pumpkin seeds, are believed to improve memory, mental productiveness and mood.
All that in a delicious, easy to grow, easy to prepare package. Plus, as an added benefit, at least one day of the year they even ward off evil!
Danne Polk wrote this article for Dry Creek Garden Company in Reno, NV.
