The pumpkin flowers in July, and the fruit matures in late Autumn. It is extensively cultivated as a kitchen vegetable and has been used as a food and medicinally by native tribes for thousands of years. The seeds are used in medicine as well as food, and have long been popular as country remedy for tapeworms and roundworms.
The seeds contain high levels of Vitamin E, Tryptophan and Zinc, as well as carotenoids (such as beta-carotene and lutein) and Cucurbitin, an amino acid that has shown anti-parasitic activity. Studies have shown that pumpkin seed oil is as potent as the drug indomethacin at relieving chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Pumpkin seeds have been shown to have high levels of vitamin E, including all forms of the tocopherol family i.e. alpha, beta, delta, and gamma tocopherol, along with the tocotrienols. Pumpkin seed oil has been used in combination with saw palmetto to effectively reduce symptoms of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). It can be used in conjunction with cholesterol-lowering drugs to reduce side effects of the drugs. The high tryptophan content of the seeds may make the oil useful in cases of insomnia.
Pumpkin seeds and their oil have been used to treat a number of conditions including:
Parasite removal
The method now chiefly pursued is to have the patient fast for a day and take a saline cathartic to wash the intestinal mucus, etc., from the worm. Then, the patient being kept in bed to prevent emesis, administer to him 3 doses of 1/3 of a pint each, every 2 hours, of an emulsion prepared from the fresh seeds beaten with pulverized sugar and diluted with milk or water. After a few hours, a purgative, like castor oil, may be administered to aid in the expulsion of the worm. This is also effectual in removing the roundworm. It was formerly believed that the taenifuge properties resided in the external covering of the seeds, but later investigations do not confirm this view.