what are the benefits of Pumpkin

What are the benefits of Pumpkin

A native to North America mostly, pumpkin, is an absolutely nutritional and tasty food which belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. Aside from the benefits for health and the highly positive nutrition facts of pumpkins,it is a vegetable, or more accurately, a fruit capable of boosting the taste of a wide variety of your cravings as well as complementing both sweet and savory foods quite exceptionally. If the wonderful taste of pumpkins is not enough for you to keep having them, here a few nutrition facts and health benefits of pumpkin.

Pumpkin-Nutrition

Highly Nutritious:

It would be quite obvious and fitting for us to talk about the nutrition facts of pumpkins to start it off. Pumpkins have quite the impressive nutrition facts table as a single cup (240-250 grams) of cooked pumpkin contains:

  • Vitamin A- 245% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI).
  • Calories- 49.
  • Protein- 2.00g.
  • Fat- 0.20g.
  • Fiber- 3.00g.
  • Manganese- 11% of the RDI.
  • Copper- 11% of the RDI.
  • Iron- 8% of the RDI.
  • Potassium- 16% of the RDI.
  • 19% of the RDI- Vitamin C
  • Vitamin B2- 11% of the RDI.
  • Vitamin E- 10% of the RDI.
  • Other nutrients like phosphorous, zinc, magnesium, and some B vitamins in small amounts.

The summary of the nutrition facts is that pumpkin is quite rich in minerals and vitamins while it also has calories in a small amount.

Aids in boosting immunity

Still about the nutrition facts of pumpkins, the vitamins packed in it are fully capable of strengthening your immune system. The most common of it is the beta carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A, a vitamin that is commonly known to be an all-round benefit for health. Pumpkins are also rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, folate and iron, all of which have successively proven to be useful in boosting the immune system.

Combating and reducing the risk of some diseases

The benefits for health or healthy living of pumpkins are plenteous, but an important factor it displays is its ability to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses and combating some diseases like diabetes. Pumpkins have quite an effect on your body’s absorption of glucose and as such, is of great help in controlling diabetes. Pumpkins also contain antioxidants that can prevent the free radicals produced during your body’s metabolism from damaging your cells.

Helps with weight loss

There are a lot of benefits for health from weight loss, and pumpkins can be considered as weight-loss friendly foods. Considering the nutrition facts of pumpkins, it is quite the perfect weight loss fruit/vegetable. It is quite obvious when you study the nutrition facts listed previously, which indicate that there is an incredibly low amount of calories despite the abundance of nutrients.

The benefits for health of pumpkins as it concerns physical fitness and healthy living is absolutely undeniable as it even cuts across aiding healthy skin and protecting the heart, among other things. To enjoy these benefits, you can add this fantastic plant to your diet.

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Author: Ahaana Sahay