“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, fun, goofy images
for Halloween and puree it up for a Thanksgiving pie! Layden Chiropractic
is playing with the pumpkin’s plight and confesses
to liking the pumpkin fun while also appreciating
its tasty, healthy features for our
Plainville 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 well recognized 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-full
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 favorable functional
properties recognized today are wound healing, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory,
antioxidative, anti-ulcerative, spermatogenesis-enhancing, etc.
(2) The scent, flavor, and color traits 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 healthful. (3) All this in the pretty
fall fruit we cut into jack-o-lanterns enjoyed by young and old…including Layden Chiropractic and our Plainville
chiropractic families!
AGE MATTERS
Age is of importance 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 highest
phenolic and flavonoid content (33 compounds!), the highest
antioxidant activity, and the highest antibacterial activity. (4)
For the human, aging generates increasingly more
molecular injury to cells in response to
oxidative stress from environmental, lifestyle, and disease factors.
A key to proper diet as we age is an appropriate
intake of antioxidants. The cucurbita fruits (varieties 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 found a bunch of beneficial
cytoprotective – cell-protecting - properties linked to the prevention
of age-related diseases precipitated
by oxidative stress. (6) Layden Chiropractic is all about
protecting cells and the well-being of our Plainville
chiropractic clients.
CONTACT Layden Chiropractic
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 Plainville chiropractic
appointment now. Layden Chiropractic respects
the pumpkin for all its nutritional value. And we still anticipate the annual cutting, decorating, and cooking!