Why You Should Gorge On Winter Squash
Winter squash is a fantastic and delicious annual fruit, usually eaten in the mature fruit stage when the seeds become fully mature and the skin becomes strong. The fruit has many varieties and is mildly sweet in flavour and finely grained in texture.
Nutritional Value
- Winter squash Is an excellent source of immune-supportive and free radical scavenging vitamin C
- It is low in calories and is an important source of dietary fibre and complex vegetable carbohydrates.
- Winter squash is also a primary source of alpha-carotene, beta carotene, manganese, potassium, folate, vitamin B1, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin B5, vitamin 86 and vitamin B3.
- The seeds of winter squash serve as a wonderful snack with a 75 per cent presence of linoleic and oleic acids
- The skins contains polysaccharides in the cell walls which is the key to health benefits
Health Benefits
- Winter squash has an anti- cancerous effect, which is capable of preventing cell mutations that lead to cancer-like changes as it provides antioxidant support
- Known for its ability to reduce symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy, winter squash is also particularly helpful against benign prostatic hyperplasia
- Winter squash is beneficial for fighting against diabetic heart disease
- Acts as a powerful antioxidant and its anti-inflammatory properties prevents the growth of atherosclerosis
- It lowers the risk of lung cancer because it contains a high quantity of vitamin A, which safeguards against the deadly effects of cigarette smoking
- Beta-carotene present in winter squash helps in oxidation of cholesterol and hence lowers the risk of heart stroke.
- Also, the beta- carotene in winter squash helps to fight against asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis.
- The folate content in winter squash also helps in breaking homocysteine, which has harmful effects on blood vessels
- The increased concentration of homocysteine is connected with risk of heart stroke, thus the folate present in winter squash helps in reducing the risk of heart stroke.
- Potassium present in winter squash regulates blood sugar levels