Functional and nutraceutical properties of pumpkin – a review

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the nutritional and food value of pumpkin Cucurbita, along with different health benefits. Cucurbita (pumpkin) is an herbaceous vine, member of Cucurbitaceae family. It is an edible, heat-sensitive plant, which has an abundant amount of active compounds such as carotenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tannins, tocopherols, phytosterols and cucurbitacin, accounted for numerous health benefits, namely, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, hypotensive, hyper protective activities. Design/methodology/approach Major well-known bibliometric information sources such as Web of Science, Scopus, Mendeley and Google Scholar were searched with keywords such as nutrition value of Cucurbita, Cucurbita utilization, bioactive compounds of pumpkin, health benefits, processing, food formulations and current scenarios were chosen to obtain a large range of papers to be analyzed. A final inventory of 105 scientific sources was made after sorting and classifying them according to different criteria based on topic, academic field, country of origin and year of publication. Findings The comprehensive review of different literature, data sources and research papers seeks to find and discuss various nutritional benefits of pumpkin. It contains all necessary macro- and micro-nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants and bioactive compounds with a relatively low amount of antinutrients. The recent upsurge in consumer interest for health-promoting products has opened up new vistas for plant products containing bioactive compounds in different food formulations. Originality/value This paper contains information regarding the chemical composition, nutritive value, phytochemical studies, pharmacological properties, bio-accessibility, food and industrial applications of pumpkin. Worldwide, pumpkin is used as food additive in various food products such as candy, weaning mix, corn grits, kheer, jam, crackers, bread, etc. Effect of different processing methods such as high temperature, pH, blanching, oven drying, freeze-drying to retain or minimize its losses in case of color, texture, flavor, and the carotenoids are of concern. The review paper highlights the nutritional, therapeutic, potential and processing attributes.

Physicochemical characteristics, bioactive compounds and industrial applications of mango kernel and its products: A review

“…These compounds have been demonstrated to be crucial in the Ayurvedic medicinal system for centuries. In the future, the exploration of these natural phytochemicals will be indispensable since their extraction has proven to be economical and practical (Kaur et al, 2020). Both in vivo and in vitro studies suggest that bioactive compounds and antioxidants from mango kernel's crude extract offer protection against cardio and hepatic effects, antiaging, as well as anticarcinogenic effects (Asif et al, 2016).…”

Effect of pumpkin seed oil on cholesterol fractions and systolic/diastolic blood pressure

“…Food technologists have investigated structural and function aspects of pumpkin seeds (Ahmed et al, 2014) and developed snacks like enriched bread (Kampuse et al, 2015) and is being used as a food additive in numerous products including sweets, and crackers (Kaur et al, 2019). The objective is to deliver an effective phytosterol dose of 1.5 to 3 g/day, as it can lead to an 8 to 15% reduction in LDL-cholesterol (Kampuse et al, 2015;Kaur et al, 2019).…”

“…Food technologists have investigated structural and function aspects of pumpkin seeds (Ahmed et al, 2014) and developed snacks like enriched bread (Kampuse et al, 2015) and is being used as a food additive in numerous products including sweets, and crackers (Kaur et al, 2019). The objective is to deliver an effective phytosterol dose of 1.5 to 3 g/day, as it can lead to an 8 to 15% reduction in LDL-cholesterol (Kampuse et al, 2015;Kaur et al, 2019). Sterols have a wide ranging therapeutic potential as anticancer, anti-inflammation, hypoglycemic and immune modulators, and are effective with or without meals (Lestari & Meiyanto, 2018;Adams et al, 2011;Syed et al, 2019).…”

Development and Evaluation of Indian Traditional Sweet ‘Laddoo’ Supplemented with Germinated Pumpkin Seed Flour

“…The mineral composition of the seed was phosphorus 0.71%, Magnesium 348.7 ppm, iron 290.0 ppm, copper 70 ppm, zinc 39.9 ppm, and manganese 17.9 ppm [19]. Number of other coworkers have also described potential of pumpkin seeds for developing and innovating nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmeceuticals products for the large range application [20,21].…”