Phytochemical Screening and Nutrient Analysis in Pulp Extract of Cucurbita Maxima

The pumpkin (cucurbita maxima) is an dicotyledonous vegetable, belonging to the cucurbitaceous family. The top pumpkin producing countries include India, California. Pumpkin is one of the most popular crops in the United states, about 1.5 billion pounds (680, 000, 00 kilograms) produced each year. Pumpkin (cucurbita maxima) has received considerable attention in recent years because of the nutritional and protective values of the pulp. The medicinal properties of Cucurbita maxima include anti-diabetic, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, and anti- inflammatory effects. The objective of this study was to identify the phytochemicals and nutrient levels in the Cucurbita maxima pulp extracts. The extracts of Cucurbita maxima were subjected to preliminary screening. The Phytochemical screening of the Cucurbita maxima pulp extracts revealed the presence of polyphenols, alkaloids, flavanoids, terpenoids, glycosides and Tanins. The pulp is an excellent source of protein and also has pharmacological activites such as anti -diabetic, anti-inflammation activites and antioxidant effect. This is the context where appearance the concept of Functional food they are good source of calories, protein, minerals, fibre contribute in regulating cholesterol. Pumpkin pulp (cucurbita maxima) considered a poor mans vegetable, contain dietary antioxidants which provide bioactive mechanism to reduce free radical induced oxidative stress and probably play a role in the prevention of aging various disease associate with oxidative stress such as cancer, cardiovascular disease.