Dr. Gott's column(s)

[Ding-Dong]

I believe the following article taken from the Tulsa World (online) on Monday, September 1, 2008 written by Dr. Perter Gott, M.D., will be very helpful to a number of people.

Dear Dr. Gott;

About 25 years ago, my sister injured both knees in a motorcycle accident. She has had eight surgeries and countless draining procedures and shots.  In speaking with her yesterday, she mentioned that her knees are no longer bothering her and the swelling is gone.  I was, of course, curious what wonderful thing could have caused this dramatic change.  She said she had started eating one-quarter cup of raw pumpkin seeds about two weeks before. She had heard that copper was good for reducing inflammation and that pumpkin seeds were full of it.  Her husband is also eating the seeds daily for his knee problems and says he feels great again.  I was wondering whether you had ever heard of this and what your opinion is.

Dear Reader:  Eating raw pumpkin seeds for knee pain is new to me, but if it works for your sister and her husband, they should stick with it.  Unless you're allergic, there is no harm in eating a small amount or raw pumpkin seeds daily.  The best part is that they can easily be mixed with other foods such as oatmeal, cold cereal and salads.

Copper bracelets have been used by many to reduce the pain and inflammation associated with arthritis.  It stands to reason that if pumpkin seeds contain copper, they can also be useful as a treatment option.  There have been no large studies on this effect, however.

Pumpkin-seed oil is purported to relieve symptoms of bladder problems, enlarged prostrates, kidney stones, irritable bowel syndrome and more.  The oil is available in capsule form at many health-food and vitamin stores.

Readers, if any of you have had experience with pumpkin seeds or pumpkin-seed oil, please let me know.  I will print a follow-up with the results, either positive or negative.

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Comment-- I'll be guessing there will be a HUGE run on pumpkin seeds/oil now and they'll be hard to find.!!