Winter Squash
Photography and styling by Grain(e)s & co.
We are all pretty familiar with pumpkin and butternut squash, but did you know they are part of a larger family called ‘winter’ squash? This variety of squashes just brings some colour to the cold weather days, ranging from yellow to orange to dark green and even some with various tones. We can add winter squash to our plates in so many ways, so let’s explore what they have to offer!
Part of your 5-a-day - a fruit!
Although we tend to eat squash as a vegetable, botanically it is a fruit, more specifically a ‘false’ berry called a pepo. In the cold variety of squashes, the most common are butternut, delicata, spaghetti, kabocha, hubbard, acorn, sweet dumpling, and pumpkin.
3 heaped tablespoons of diced and cooked squash count as a portion of your 5-a-day.
Vitamin A - immunity, vision & skin health
Squashes are a good source of pro-vitamin A carotenoids - natural pigments responsible for red, yellow and orange colours in plants - which carry out the same job as vitamin A in the body as we absorb and convert them to vitamin A.
Vitamin A helps the immune system to work as it should to defend us against illness and infection by supporting the production of immune cells. Vitamin A is also key for our vision, particularly vision in dim light, and helps keep our skin healthy.
Dietary Fibre - digestion & gut health
Winter squashes are a source of dietary fibre which helps keep our digestive system healthy, normalise bowel movement and prevent constipation. Higher dietary fibre intake has been linked to a reduced risk of certain diseases - such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and bowel cancers.
Dietary fibre also feeds the friendly bacteria residing in our digestive system, promoting good gut health.
Find out more in my previous blog post: Dietary Fibre.
Potassium - heart health & fluid balance
Winter squashes are a source of potassium, a mineral that supports the proper functioning of our heart muscles which helps control & maintain normal blood pressure.
Potassium also controls fluid balance in our bodies, meaning it regulates the water balance inside and outside our cells. This is important because maintaining equal fluid balance is crucial to avoid dehydration which in turn can affect our health.
Magnesium - bone, muscles & heart health
Winter squashes are a source of magnesium, a mineral which we need in relatively large amounts daily.
Among its many roles, magnesium helps convert nutrients into energy, to ensure our cells have the required energy to carry out all their roles and maintain our energy levels. Magnesium also supports our bones and their structure by ensuring our parathyroid glands - which produce hormones for bone health - work normally. Finally, magnesium helps our muscles, heart and nervous system function normally by helping carry messages between our brain and body through our nerve cells.
The take-home:
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References
NHS. Rough guide - Fruit & vegetable portion sizes. Livewell. 2021 https://www.nhs.uk/livewell/5aday/documents/downloads/5aday_portion_guide.pdf
McCance & Widdowson. The Composition of Foods integrated dataset 2021. 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2022, from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/composition-of-foods-integrated-dataset-cofid
British Nutrition Foundation. Vitamins and Minerals in our Food. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.nutrition.org.uk/media/5xeeolog/vitamins-and-minerals-in-our-food-pdf.pdf
NHS, Health A to Z - Vitamins and Minerals - Vitamin A. NHS Sources. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-a/
Zaccari F, Galietta G. α-Carotene and β-Carotene Content in Raw and Cooked Pulp of Three Mature Stage Winter Squash "Type Butternut". Foods. 2015. 18;4(3):477-486. doi: 10.3390/foods4030477.
Caili F, Huan S, Quanhong L. A review on pharmacological activities and utilization technologies of pumpkin. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2006. 61(2):73-80. doi: 10.1007/s11130-006-0016-6.
NHS. Vitamins and Minerals - Others - Potassium. NHS Sources. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/others/
NHS. Vitamins and Minerals - Others - Magnesium. NHS Sources. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/others/