From Martino Ragusa

For the consistency of the pulp and the high satiating power due to large fiber content, our ancestors had renamed “pig of the poor”. But satiated not always mean feed and for sure pumpkin was far from a caloric food such as meat.

Today things have changed: the nutritional defects were magically transformed into merits and we can mention the pumpkin as a low-calorie food, composed of 94% water and able to provide only 18 kilocalories per 100 grams. Like all yellow-orange vegetables contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A (retinol) and therefore valuable for the view, but also an excellent antioxidant useful in cancer prevention.
Despite the sweet taste, sugars are only 2.70 g / 100 g. Happily absent cholesterol.
So it’s a real food diet, good for diabetics, the elderly and those needing to lose weight. It also contains vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, selenium, manganese and magnesium.
The seeds, the famous “brustolini”, are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic and linoleic, capable of lowering cholesterol levels.