The Health Benefits of Pumpkins

You see them all over, this time of year. If you're out in the country, you'll find them in the fields in such profusion that they turn the ground orange. They'll make their way to your local grocery, where they'll be stacked neatly (at first) by the door. And eventually they may appear on doorsteps or in windows, hollowed out and carved into likenesses both silly and serious.

Oh, and they come canned, too.

The pumpkin is a ubiquitous part of the American fall season—which is understandable, considering that it's indigenous to this part of the world. The Native Americans used it as both a food and a medicine. The first settlers from Europe added it to their diets. Then some of them helped spread it to the rest of the world by returning to their birthplaces in Europe with the seeds.

This time of year, many people will get the biggest specimens they can find, collect their kids (and maybe the neighbors' as well), and have a pumpkin-carving party. This can be great fun. There's just one problem—after the outside is carved, most of the time the inside is thrown away. And that's a shame, because the "meat" and seeds of a pumpkin can have some great health benefits.

What's so good about pumpkins, anyway?
Pumpkin meat is very high in carotenoids. They're what give pumpkins their orange color—but that's the least of their benefits. Carotenoids are really good at neutralizing free radicals, nasty molecules that can attack cell membranes and leave the cells vulnerable to damage.

Pumpkins are also high in lutein and zeaxanthin, which scavenge free radicals in the lens of the eye. Therefore, they may help prevent the formation of cataracts and reduce the risk of macular degeneration, a serious eye problem than usually results in blindness.

Besides carotenoids, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which are all antioxidants, pumpkins have a lot of common nutrients, like iron, zinc, and fiber. Iron, of course, is needed by red blood cells. Zinc deficiency may be related to osteoporosis of the hip and spine in older men. And fiber is important for bowel health.