Cucurbitaceae

The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera. Cucurbitaceae family members such as pumpkin and watermelon have seeds discovered to contain a rich repertoire of nutrients such as proteins, unsaturated fatty acids, phenolic acids, carotenoids, tocopherol, phytosterol, squalene etc. Biological assays have proven the seed extracts to exert antioxidative, hypoglycemic, anticancer, antihypertensive, cardioprotective, antilipemic, gynoprotective, and anthelmintic properties.