Last update and review: September 24, 2021.
A short summary.
Pumpkin seed oil has high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and tocopherols. It apparently accelerates skin wound healing and has some other health benefits. But the content of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n-3) in pumpkin seed oil is low, around 0.2-0.3%.
Image: Pumpkin, pumkin seeds, pumpkin oil. Source: Internet search engines.
A study by Bardaa et al., 2016 (1).
“Vitamin E is a generic term for entities displaying tocopherol biological activity. In general, these compounds exhibit a biological activity from their ability to donate phenolic hydrogen atoms to free radicals.”
Bardaa et al., 2016 (1):
“Tocols (tocopherols, tocotrienols, vitamin E, etc.) are lipid-soluble compounds; represent antioxidant molecules naturally found in most vegetable oils particularly in grains [37]. They are composed of four homologues of tocotrienol and tocopherol which differ in position and number of methyl groups on the chroman ring structure [38]. They are of great nutritional interest because of their vitamin E activity. Vitamin E is a generic term for entities displaying tocopherol biological activity. In general, these compounds exhibit a biological activity from their ability to donate phenolic hydrogen atoms to free radicals, which allows the breaking of destructive chain reactions [39]. To this end, tocopherol is an excellent lipophilic antioxidant.”
Oxidative damage caused by a pesticide in mice testes was alleviated by an oil with a considerable tocopherol (vitamin E) content.
Bardaa et al., 2016 (1):
“Upon initiation of lipid peroxidation after radical attack, the α-tocopherol, known as an inhibitor of lipid propagation, transfers its hydrogen and thereby reduces the RO2 radical. Indeed, the antioxidant activity of tocopherols would be due to scavenging the peroxyl radicals by implementing their functional radical to form the tocopheroxyl radical. …it is the only fat-soluble antioxidant that is ensuring this protection [41]. Moreover, it is recognized that tocopherols (vitamin E) deficiency impairs mammalian fertility [42, 43] and what Ben Halima et al. [36] reported an in vivo study in which (the authors showed) that (reproductive toxicity) caused to mice by orally administered deltamethrin (DEL), which is a pyrethroid pesticide with a wide range of effects on non-targeted organisms, can be effectively antagonized by the beneficial effects of oats oil (OO) (that contains) a considerable amount of tocopherols. Oxidative damage in testes induced by this pesticide was alleviated by oats oil.”
The tocopherol content in pumpkin seeds oil is in the order of 280 mg/kg. This concentration is substantial when compared to that of olive oil, which varies from 125 to 250 mg/kg.
“In this study, we determined the tocopherol content in pumpkin seeds oil which is in the order of 280 mg/kg. This concentration is substantial when compared to that of olive oil, which varies from 125 to 250 mg/kg.”
The content of alpha-Linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n-3) in pumpkin seed oil is low, about 0.2-0.3%.
Fig. 3 from Jiao et al., 2014 (2): GC–MS analyses of fatty acid compositions (% of total fatty acids) of the oils obtained by different means. MAAEEO: MAAEE-extracted oil; SEO: SE-extracted oil.
Bardaa et al., 2016 (1): “Most published reports on FA composition in pumpkin show low levels of C18:3 similar to those reported in this study.”
Table 2 from Bardaa et al., 2016 (1): Fatty acids composition (percentage of total FAs) of pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo L.) oil.
Useful schematic depictions of fatty acids from another article on this website.
Pumpkin seed oil accelerated skin wound healing in rats: “only 11 days vs 20 days in experiments with herbal drugs”.
Bardaa et al., 2016 (1):
“Delayed wound healing processes were observed in the control group compared to all the other groups; After 11 days, in contrast to pumpkin oil-treated group, in which a good closure of the wounds was achieved, the untreated animals still show an open wound (21.25 %) at the end of the experiment. Therefore, the current morphometric findings showed that the wounds from the treated groups have higher contraction rates than those of the untreated groups during the entire morphometric judgment time points studied. In previous studies, it has been reported that the same wound model used for the assessment of herbal drug combination of Rubia cordifolia, Centella asiatica, Terminalia belerica, Plumbago Zeylanica and Withania somnifera required a healing period of 20 days [54]; while, it lasted only 11 days with oil used in the current study.”
Conclusions.
According to the Institute of Medicine (3), the Adequate Intake (AI) for alpha-linolenic acid is 1.6 and 1.1 g/d for men and women, respectively (see “Table S-6” below). Many oils don’t have any alpha-linolenic acid at all. In those that have, the content of alpha-linolenic acid is very low. One needs to consume a considerable amount of low-ALA oils to meet the daily adequate intake (AI). But is it a good idea to consume a lot of oil?
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Selected references:
1. Bardaa S, Ben Halima N, Aloui F, et al. Oil from pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds: evaluation of its functional properties on wound healing in rats. Lipids Health Dis. 2016;15:73. Published 2016 Apr 11. doi:10.1186/s12944-016-0237-0
2. J. Jiao et al. Food Chemistry 147 (2014) 17–24
3. Institute of Medicine. 2005. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.