Benefit for Juneau Degenerated Discs from Pumpkin Leaves
This time of year, pumpkins are everywhere! We like them for décor, but they offer so much more! Recent news focuses on the benefits of their leaves to reduce the speed of disc degeneration and even possibly encourage regeneration. That’s news to your Juneau chiropractor’s ear…and surely to our Juneau back pain and neck pain patients’ ears, too!
THE DISC – Healthy and Degenerated
Many back pain treatment approaches focus on easing the pain and returning function without a thought about how to reduce the speed of the degenerative process and/or encourage regeneration. The intervertebral disc has an inner core (nucleus pulposus) made of proteoglycans and a layered outer rim (annulus fibrosus) rich in collagen. Combined, these two work as a shock absorber and stabilizer for the spine. Treatment options for the degenerated disc come from understanding the processes that precede degeneration in order to help relieve discogenic pain more effectively. (1) Your chiropractor expores these mechanisms all the time!
PUMPKIN LEAVES AND CAROTENOIDS
It's recognized that pumpkin products and by-products (like leaves!) contain major carotenoids - β-carotene, α-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin – with β-carotene being the foremost one in most pumpkin types. The total content of carotenoids rests on a variety of factors, one being the extraction procedure. Functional foods are advanced from carotenoids which are said to add significantly to the multiple health benefits of the foods. (2) Nutrition can plan a role in disc health. Let’s put our Juneau pumpkins and their by-products to work for us!
PUMPKIN LEAVES AND COLLAGEN AND PROTEINS AND DISC CELLS
One way to put pumpkins to work for us is well explained in a recent study about how the leaves of pumpkins may help. The acetone extract from Violina pumpkin (curcurbita moshata) leaves induced a significant increase in extracellular matrix components like aggrecan and collagen type II along with other proteins and stress response regulators in the degenerated intervertebral disc cells removed from degenerated disc tissues of spinal surgery patients. Markers noting the presence and activity of stem cells were significantly higher as well. This news motivated the researchers to declare that the hypothesis about how adequate stimuli can support resident cells to repopulate the degenerated discs was thus sustained. The report overall concluded that data indicate that the discovery of molecules that may effectively slow disc degeneration using a part of the pumpkin that most of us throw in the trash as waste – the leaves! (3) Aurora Chiropractic Center bets you will look at the pumpkin leaves differently this season!
CONTACT Aurora Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how nutrition may decelerate and possibly stop degeneration and promote regeneration via ingredients like chondroitin sulfate based on years of research performed already and how nutrition combined with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management decrease and control spine pain. We’ll keep watching the pumpkin leaves’ research as it grows!
Make your Juneau chiropractic appointment today to see us this pumpkin season!
