“Respect the pumpkin! Respect the pumpkin!” Pitiful
thing! The pumpkin wants to share its healthy gifts with us! What do we do? We carve
it into spooky, funny, goofy looks
for Halloween and mash it up for a Thanksgiving pie! Spinal Care Clinic
is playing with the pumpkin’s quandry and confesses
to enjoying the pumpkin fun while also appreciating
its edible, healthy aspects for our
Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic patients who are undergoing chiropractic care for back pain or neck pain and their supportive families.
RESPECT FOR THE NUTRITIOUS PUMPKIN
Respect 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 most common ingredient for great
pumpkin pies! (1) Well-known for 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 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 beautiful
fall fruit we cut into jack-o-lanterns that young
and old alike enjoy…including Spinal Care Clinic and our Burlington and Hamilton
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 – versus the
young and ripened stages – exhibited the greatest
phenolic and flavonoid content (33 compounds!), the highest
antioxidant activity, and the highest antibacterial activity. (4)
For the human, aging brings increasingly more
molecular damage to cells in reaction to
oxidative stress from environmental, lifestyle, and disease factors.
A key to proper diet as we age is an adequate
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 discovered a treasure trove of useful
cytoprotective – cell-protecting - properties related to the prevention
of age-related diseases triggered
by oxidative stress. (6) Spinal Care Clinic is all about
protecting cells and the health of our Burlington and Hamilton
chiropractic patients.
CONTACT Spinal Care Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. James Cox on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
illustrates the importance of managing
inflammation as well as chiropractic spinal manipulation treatment with The Cox® Technic System of
Spinal Pain Management.
Make your Burlington and Hamilton chiropractic
appointment today. Spinal Care Clinic appreciates
the pumpkin for all its nutritional value. And we still look
forward to the annual cutting, decorating, and baking!