The Magic of Pumpkin Seeds

October 23, 2007

I'm working on a story today about pumpkin seeds being used to treat people with anxiety. A study was done at Whitby Mental Health Centre that shows they can help decrease anxiety by 16 percent. Here's the catch, you can't just eat them out of the jack o'lantern. The oil in the seed has to pressed out. That way, the tryptophan that is in the seeds can be absorbed into the brain and turned into seratonin. That's in the daytime. At night the brain turns the tryptophan into melatonin which helps you sleep. There are a couple of products in health food stores that have the pumpkin seed flour (with dextrose, which helps absorption as well) I bought some and am going to give it a try. It may help bring down stress level at work and help me sleep through the night.

Let you guys know how it works.

http://www.citynews.ca/blogs/healthydialogue.aspx