More On Pumpkin Seeds And The Prostate

Here’s more from Dr. Duke’s entry on enlarged prostate from his book The Green Pharmacy:

Pumpkin seeds can contain as much as 8 milligrams of zinc per half-cup serving. … Zinc has been shown to reduce the size of the prostate, presumably by inhibiting the conversion process mentioned earlier. [He’s referring to the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone which stimulates prostate cell proliferation. Pharmaceutical drugs also inhibit this conversion.]

According to NutritionData, 1 ounce (a little less than 1/4 cup) of pumpkin seeds contains about 2 mg zinc, which is pretty good since the RDA for zinc is 8-11 mg.

If you’re thinking of just taking a zinc supplement…

Pumpkin seeds are also high in certain amino acids – alanine, glycine, and glutamic acid. … In a study of 45 men who were given supplements of these amino acids (200 milligrams each) every day, the regimen significantly relieved BPH [benign prostatic hypertrophy] symptoms.

A half-cup serving of pumpkin seeds can have 1,150 to 1,245 milligrams of alanine, 1,800 to 1,930 milligrams of glycine and 4,315 to 4,635 milligrams of glutamic acid. That’s anywhere from 5 to 20 times the doctor’s daily recommendation.

A handful of pumpkin seeds a day? Men in other countries do it:

Pumpkin seeds were the traditional treatment for BPH in Bulgaria, Turkey and the Ukraine. The recommendation was a handful of seeds a day throughout adulthood.