Keep Eating That Pumpkin!

We keep repeating ourselves over and over about pumpkin's healthy nutrients, and on how low in calories it is. Now, new studies have reinforced that. According to a report released in major news outlets, people with high blood levels of alpha-carotene, found in pumpkin, carrots and orange fruits, live longer and are less likely to die of heart disease and certain types of cancer.

Researchers from the CDC, analyzed blood samples from more than 15,000 adults who participated in a follow-up study of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, known as Nhanes, from 1988 to 1994. By 2006, researchers determined, 3,810 of the participants had died. But those with the highest levels of alpha-carotene were more likely to have survived, even after the scientists controlled for variables like age, body mass index and smoking.
Those with the highest concentrations of the antioxidant were almost 40 percent less likely to have died than those with the lowest; those with midrange levels were 27 percent less likely to die than those with the lowest levels.

For delicious recipes using pumpkin, please click here

Sources: nytimes, AP