Pumpkin seed oil reduces night trips to the bathroom
Q: My husband uses roasted pumpkin seed oil on his salads. He learned to love it growing up in Austria, where it is very popular.
One evening I read that it is good for urological issues. I’ve been plagued with urinary tract infections and often have to get up in the middle of the night to trek to the bathroom. I decided to give it a try.
Even though I was VERY skeptical, I am thrilled. I’ve taken pumpkin seed oil capsules for probably two years or more, and I haven’t had a UTI in more than a year. Also, I do not get up at night any longer. UTIs are a nightmare, so this is a real benefit.
A: Pumpkin seed oil has been used to treat symptoms such as nocturia (frequent nighttime urination) and overactive bladder (Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, January-March 2014). We could find no studies demonstrating that pumpkin seed oil can prevent urinary tract infections.
Q: I recently spent $4.50 for a 1.75ounce tub of Vicks VapoRub (brand name). When I read the ingredients, I noticed that after “camphor” it says (synthetic). I wrote to the company, and the response was, “We have used synthetic camphor since 2004/2005.”
I have found house-brand chest rub for just $0.99, and the ingredients don’t list anything synthetic. I don’t see why we should pay so much more for synthetic.
I recently was in Germany and had a nasty cough. It responded immediately to Klosterfrau chest rub, which contains camphor, menthol and eucalyptus oils — nothing synthetic in it!
A: The manufacturer of Vicks VapoRub stated in response to your query: “VapoRub’s formulation has natural ingredients as well as synthetic ingredients to more reliably ensure our ability to source our raw materials. The synthetic camphor was tested and proven to deliver the same product benefits as the natural camphor for VapoRub.”
The active ingredients in Vicks VapoRub are camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol. They have been staples in this product for over 100 years. Other “inactive” ingredients include cedarleaf oil, nutmeg oil, petrolatum, thymol and turpentine oil. Q: After reading that cinnamon can help control blood sugar, I decided to try it. I eat a little bit of ground cinnamon when I eat sweets or anything like white bread that quickly turns to sugar.
Before, if I ate dessert at night or even French toast for breakfast, I felt terrible after about 45 minutes or so. Now if I want something like that, I eat a little cinnamon before or during my meal. I do not feel bad at all.
I had my blood sugar tested and was told it was normal, but I still felt crummy if I ate anything sweet. This cinnamon trick has been a help.
A: Cinnamon can help reduce the rapid rise in blood sugar that happens after eating something that is quickly digested, like sugar or white bread (Journal of Diabetes Research, online, July 14, 2015). Cinnamon can be taken as powder or tea, but we think tea is better. The components of cinnamon that lower blood sugar are water-soluble, so they are carried safely in tea. Coumarin is a toxic compound that is found in some cinnamon. It is not water-soluble but you could get some in ground cinnamon.
Not all cinnamon in the supermarket is the same. Cinnamomum cassia, the most common type, has more coumarin than Cinnamomum vera, Ceylon cinnamon.