Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) Seed Oil

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the main knowledge of pumpkin seed oil (PSO) such as cultivation conditions, production technology, physicochemical properties, quality control parameters and effects on health. PSO is obtained from pumpkins belong to the Cucurbitaceae family, cultivated in mild and subtropical regions and widely known as palatable and tasty food. It has been produced in Slovenia, Austria, and Hungary and used as cooking oil in many parts in Africa and the Middle East. The oil content is around 50% and it can be obtained from pumpkin seeds with or without husks using solvent extraction, supercritical CO2 or cold pressed methods. PSO has the dark greenish color as well as very typical strong nutty and roasty flavor. It is a rich natural source of phytosterols, proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), antioxidant vitamins, carotenoids and tocopherols and various elements and recommended to be in the human diet for health. PSO is highly unsaturated oil containing predominantly oleic and linoleic fatty acids and this feature makes PSO well suited for improving the food nutritive value. PSO also provides many benefits to health such as prevention of the growth and reduction of the size of prostate, mitigation of hypercholesterolemia and arthritis, retardation of the progression of hypertension, alleviation of diabetes by promoting hypoglycemic activity, and lowering levels of various cancer species. These properties are attributed to effective macro- and micro-constituents in the oil. All these features make the PSO a highly nutritious food and a useful source for application in therapeutics and novel foods.