For many of us, the harvest season brings to mind celebration foods. While you’re enjoying your baked squash and other veggies, pumpkin pie, cornbread, and fall apples, consider that these foods provide a spectrum of natural substances and compounds to help keep you and your family healthy. The good news is these compounds are also available to you year-round in supplement form—carotenoids (beta carotene, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin), pumpkin seed extract, corn silk, and apple pectin can be found at your local natural products store.

Colorful Antioxidants

Carotenoids are a group of naturally occurring yellow, orange, and red pigments in fruits, vegetables, and other plants. Besides providing a rainbow of colors, carotenoids also have distinct effects including antioxidant properties that protect us against oxidative damage.

Beta Carotene is perhaps best known for the fact that the body can convert it into vitamin A. This takes place in the intestinal wall (although some people with diabetes have problems making this conversion). Since beta carotene is converted to vitamin A only as the body needs it, it is virtually impossible for it to cause vitamin A toxicity.

In addition, beta carotene provides other significant health benefits. Increased beta carotene intake from diet is linked to a reduced risk of lung cancer. It’s possible that similar benefits may be realized from natural beta carotene supplementation. Beta carotene has also proven effective in treating leukoplakia, a potentially precancerous disease of the mouth. In one study, people with leukoplakia received 180 mg of beta carotene weekly. After six months, researchers found reduced precancerous cells, increased remission of leukoplakias, and the inhibition of new leukoplakias with beta carotene use. A similar study involving 60 mg of beta carotene daily also found this carotenoid effective for treating leukoplakia.

The deep red pigment that gives tomatoes and watermelon their color, lycopene may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Lycopene can reduce blood fats both by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase (involved in manufacturing cholesterol) and by helping to degrade LDL (or “lousy”) cholesterol. In one study of more than 1,300 individuals from 10 European countries, lycopene was found protective against heart attack. Furthermore, in a separate study, low blood levels of lycopene were found to be associated with early atherosclerosis in men.

In test-tube research, lycopene inhibits the growth of several types of human cancer cells, including endometrial, breast, and lung. In addition, research has shown that lycopene reduces the risk for developing these cancers and, in some cases (including prostate cancer), has even demonstrated tumor-suppressive activity.

The yellowish carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin are found in highest concentrations in dark green, leafy vegetables (although the green pigment, chlorophyll, blocks the yellow), corn, and other foods. These carotenoids are two major components found in the macula of the eye’s retina, responsible for central vision and visual acuity.

In a study of 356 subjects, those with the highest intake of lutein/zeaxanthin had a 57 percent decreased risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared to those with the lowest intake of lutein/zeaxanthin. AMD is characterized by atrophy of the macular disk and is the leading cause of blindness among older Americans. Three double-blind intervention studies found that lutein supplementation improved visual acuity in AMD patients.

Other conditions can also benefit from lutein/zeaxanthin. Research demonstrates a reduced risk of cataracts among individuals consuming the highest amounts of lutein/zeaxanthin. And taking 40 mg of lutein daily for nine weeks significantly improved the visual acuity of 16 patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare inherited, degenerative disease characterized by poor night vision and a progressive loss of peripheral vision. Lutein/zeaxanthin may even help protect against cardiovascular disease and lung cancer.

Pumpkin Seed Extract

Pumpkin seeds are commonly used for benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH (an enlargement of the prostate gland, characterized by increased frequency of urination, the need to urinate during the night, pain, and urinary tract infections). In a clinical trial with more than 2,000 men, pumpkin seed extract decreased BPH symptoms by 47 percent and improved quality of life by 46 percent.  In a double-blind study, pumpkin seed oil was successfully used in combination with saw palmetto to reduce BPH symptoms. In another large clinical trial with men suffering from BPH, pumpkin seed and saw palmetto reduced daytime urination frequency in 68 percent of patients and reduced nighttime urination frequency in 82 percent.

Corn Silk

The tassel inside the husk, corn silk is valued in herbal medicine as a diuretic, and it soothes inflamed mucous membranes in the urinary tract. Traditionally used in the United States and southern France to relieve both acute and chronic inflammations of the bladder, corn silk’s diuretic action is partly due to its high potassium content. In animal research, corn silk was found to be superior to the drug theophylline as a diuretic. The soothing, demulcent action of corn silk is due to its naturally occurring mucilage. Herbalists use corn silk to treat cystitis (urinary tract infections), fluid retention, and involuntary urination or bedwetting.

Apple Pectin

Apple pectin is a naturally occurring soluble fiber. Research suggests its antitumor benefits, and it may also slow the absorption of glucose.

Apple pectin will interact with bacteria present in the intestines via a fermentation process, resulting in the production of short-chain fatty acids. This may have a positive effect upon the composition of intestinal bacteria. The result? According to animal research, apple pectin may help reduce the number of induced colon tumors.

In humans, the ingestion of apple pectin has been shown to slow the gastric emptying rate. This means that food leaves the stomach more slowly. According to one researcher, this may account for the fact that glucose from foods is more slowly absorbed when given with apple pectin. In another study, apple pectin slowed glucose absorption in persons with Type 2 diabetes, which improved their glucose tolerance.