Pumpkin seeds in the milpa triad and health
What it found
In people, 5 g of pumpkin seeds a day for 60 days was linked to better weight, waist, cholesterol and blood pressure in women with metabolic syndrome.
In rats, pumpkin seed powder lowered blood sugar and blood fats.
What they found
Studies in people
Metabolic syndrome in women
Indian women aged 30 to 50 with metabolic syndrome took 5 g of pumpkin seeds a day for 60 days. Their body weight, waist, HDL, non-HDL, LDL and systolic blood pressure improved compared with a control group.
Blood pressure and cholesterol
In a study of pumpkin seed oil, 1,000 mg a day for 3 months lowered LDL and diastolic blood pressure and raised HDL. The authors link this to the unsaturated fatty acids and plant sterols in the seeds.
Prostate symptoms in men
Men took 500 mg a day of non-fat pumpkin seed extract, equal to 10 g of seed, for 3 months. Their prostate hyperplasia symptoms dropped between 8 and 12 weeks after the start.
Animal and lab studies
Blood sugar and fats in rats
In albino rats, 15 g of pumpkin seed powder lowered blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. The authors say pumpkin seeds could be used in the human diet to manage diabetes and high cholesterol.
Other findings
Nutrients in pumpkin seeds
Pumpkin seeds are about 41.4 to 50.5% fat, 21.3 to 37.7% protein and 10.6 to 25% carbohydrate. Their fat is mostly polyunsaturated, mainly linoleic acid.
Protein quality of pumpkin
Pumpkin seed protein had lower amino acid scores and biological values than corn or common beans in the review's calculations. The authors say eating the seeds together could make up for each one's missing amino acids.
What the authors conclude
“The consumption of combined milpa triad system seed could promote a synergistic effect in the prevention or adjuvants in the treatment of noncommunicable diseases.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the combined consumption of milpa seeds could help meet macro- and micro-nutrient needs and provide phytochemicals with beneficial effects for human health.
- They advise that comprehensive and well-designed studies are needed to validate the health benefits of eating the three milpa seeds together.
- They note that there is limited information on how growing corn, common beans and pumpkin together affects their nutritional and phytochemical composition.
How it was done
The authors wanted to review the nutritional and health benefits of the three milpa seeds, because most studies have looked at each seed alone and the combined effect has not been explored.
They reviewed recent preclinical and clinical trials on corn, common beans and pumpkin seeds, and calculated protein quality measures such as amino acid score and biological value from published amino acid data.
What it can’t tell you
- Many of the studies in this review were done in animals or cells, so they cannot show what happens in people.
- The review did not find trials that tested all three milpa seeds together, so it cannot show whether eating them in combination has extra health effects.
- The review looked at single seeds or pairs of seeds, so the results do not prove that pumpkin seeds on their own cause the changes seen.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- The Institute for Obesity Research, Mexico
The paper
- Title
- Nutritional, bioactive components and health properties of the milpa triad system seeds (corn, common bean and pumpkin)
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Sánchez-Velázquez OA, Luna-Vital DA, Morales-Hernandez N, et al (2023). Nutritional, bioactive components and health properties of the milpa triad system seeds (corn, common bean and pumpkin). Frontiers in nutrition. doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1169675Free full textPubMed 37538927DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error