Many of you must have been familiar with crookneck pumpkin. This food is usually used as a mixture for fruit ice to accompany you when breakfasting. Also known as crookneck squash, this pumpkin has a very unique taste that won’t cease even when mixed in any kind of drink. You can consume this through fruit ice, kolak waluh, or even any kind of bread. Must be delicious, mustn’t it?
Actually, the meat is not the only part from crookneck pumpkin that can be taken the benefit from. A lot of people also like the seeds that are similar to the sunflower seeds from this pumpkin.
Contents of Crookneck Pumpkin
Every 100 grams of crookneck pumpkin has a lot of benefits that are really good. Who would’ve guess that the nutrition in crookneck pumpkin includes beta carotene, calories, protein, and fat. Not only that, there are a lot of other minerals as well inside of the pumpkin such as calcium, phosphor, iron, natrium, potassium, copper, and zinc.
Crookneck pumpkin also contain carbohydrate in it that will make us feel full after eating it. Therefore, you will fill pretty full already when you breakfast with dishes containing this food. It also contains some vitamin such as vitamin A, C, E, K, thiamine, niacin, lutein, zeaxanthin, riboflavin, patoneat acid, B6, folate, and pro vitamin A which dominates the most.
Health Benefits of Crookneck Pumpkin
These great nutrition contents make the pumpkin good for the health, such as:
- Take Care of Eyes’ Health
The pioneer content to for this benefit is the vitamin A. The content in it up to as much as 426 grams is able to maintain and take care of the eyes. Doctors stated that as we grow older, the pupil lens will become murky. Therefore, we are urged to start consuming vitamin A from now on to avoid the risk.
Moreover, there is the content of pro vitamin A in the pumpkin as well that can be turned into vitamin A any moment. Apart from eyes’ health, the vitamin A benefits are also good for many other parts of the body so it is certainly worth it to consume this vitamin.
- Fight Free Radicals
There are many health benefits of crookneck pumpkin as Crookneck pumpkin also contain anti-oxidant in it. This content is very useful to fight off the free radicals that will attack you almost every single day. Moreover, if you are a type of person who works outdoor or has a lot of outdoor activities under the sunlight.
- Stays Young
People nowadays are eager to find food that can help them stays young. Now, you need to know that one of the vitamin inside this pumpkin that can give you this benefit is the vitamin E. Crookneck pumpkin contains up to 0,44 grams of this vitamin that can certainly help you since this vitamin can also tighten your skin.
- Minimalize Degenerative Diseases: Hypertension
One of the degenerative diseases that many people suffer from, especially in Indonesia, is the hypertension or high blood pressure. This disease usually attacks adult women after they hit the menopause. The existence of potassium in it is able to decrease the risk of this disease.
- Get Rid of Constipation
Constipation is one of the diseases that can attack your digestion system, which can make you having trouble to defecate and even cause bleeding. You can try to cure it by using the benefits of this crookneck pumpkin since the fiber content in it can help you to normalize the process of digestion. You can also try some alternatives medication such as the health benefits of urine therapy to help with your constipation problem.
- The Growth of Bones and Teeth
The crookneck pumpkin’s benefits are good for babies as well as children who are on their growing stage. The phosphor and calcium contained in the pumpkin can cooperate and help the forming of bones and teeth, as well as strengthen them. That is why the elderly always encourage the youngsters to drink milk for the calcium and phosphor in it.
- Prevent Cancers
Those who have cancers need to pay attention to what food they take into their body. One of the menus that they can try is the crookneck pumpkin since it contains beta carotene in it that can decrease the growth of cancer cells.
- Anti-Inflammation Substance
Besides good for anti-cancer, beta carotene inside the pumpkin is also good to be an anti-inflammation substance. This substance can decrease the risk of swelling in your body. You can also make a juice out of tarragon plant to help you if you ever have inflammation problems since the health benefits of tarragon juice is also good for this.
- Decrease Stroke Risk
Consuming crookneck pumpkin daily is good for your cholesterol level since it can break the clogs in your artery walls which if happens often, can decrease the risk of stroke.
- Prevent Anemia
You can get anemia if you do a lot of hard and outdoor activities. Especially these activities can cause you to skip your meals. Therefore, one of the way to take care of this problem is by consuming the crookneck pumpkin.
It contains about 0,8 mg of iron in it that although it’s not a much, but can help to from red blood cells in your body. You need to get to know more about the symptoms of anemia as well in order for you to prevent this disease.
- Restore Energy
If you are lazy to eat rice, consuming the crookneck pumpkin is actually enough to fill your stomach. It contains 2,76 grams of sugar in it that can restore your energy that had been used after a long day full of activities. The sugar inside of the crookneck pumpkin then will be processed and converted into energy. Also, if you ever have a free time as the health benefits naps can restore your energy too.
- A Companion Menu for Breast Milk
Crookneck pumpkin’s benefits are good for the babies because of its nutrients which have no harm at all. It is even good for babies under 6 months old. Its soft texture makes it easy to be digested even in babies’ intestines.
- Help Immunity System
The pumpkin is very good for consumption since it can increase the immune system. The content of vitamin C that is very high in it and the lymphocytes spleen that works well will kill off the toxics even cancer cells as well.
- Avoid Parasitic Worms
Children are very fragile into getting parasitic worms inside their body that can cause them trouble to gain weight. Parasitic worms that gets into the body can cause infections. The contents inside the crookneck pumpkin, then, can help to get rid as well as prevent these parasitic worms. However, you have to consume the pumpkin routinely to get a good result.
- Stabilize Blood Sugar Level
Although the sugar level inside the pumpkin is pretty high, it is actually still considered pretty low because the sugar is in the disaccharide chain that is good for the body. It can even help to stabilize the blood sugar level for the adults who are prone to diabetes.
- Relax the Nerves
Consumption of crookneck pumpkin can also have psychological effects. The content of magnesium in it turns out to be able to relax the nerves. Doesn’t it sound exciting?
Those are only some of the health benefits of crookneck pumpkin. Don’t forget to try it out and feel the benefits in your body.