“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, silly images
for Halloween and puree 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 valuing
its edible, healthy features for our
Manchester chiropractic patients who are being treated for back pain or neck pain and their supporting families.
RESPECT FOR THE NUTRITIOUS PUMPKIN
Appreciation for the pumpkin keeps growing! The commonly known pumpkin or squash of the
cucurbita moschata species of fruits is insect-, disease-, and hot-tolerant…as well as the essential ingredient for great
pumpkin pies! (1) Recognized for its being nutrient-dense
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. Some of its most promising functional
properties known 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 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 pumpkin's and the human's lifespan! For the
pumpkin, the mature stage of its ripening – versus the
young and ripened stages – proved to have the greatest
phenolic and flavonoid content (33 compounds!), the greatest
antioxidant activity, and the highest antibacterial activity. (4)
For the human, aging brings increasingly more
molecular injury to cells in reaction to
oxidative stress from environmental, lifestyle, and disease issues.
A key to proper diet as we age is an appropriate
intake of antioxidants. The cucurbita fruits (types of pumpkin/squash)
are great in these antioxidants as well as in zinc and copper. Researchers
even suggested that these should be eaten every
day! (5) Our aging cells would appreciate that! In
a study of extracted seed oils like pumpkin, melon, and black cumin,
researchers discovered a treasure trove of beneficial
cytoprotective – cell-protecting - properties linked to the prevention
of age-related diseases brought on
by oxidative stress. (6) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries is all about
protecting cells and the health 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 today. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries appreciates
the pumpkin for all its nutritional value. And we still look
forward to the annual cutting, decorating, and cooking!