Nan Gua Zi
StarCucurbita moschata (Duch. ex Lam.) Duch. ex Poir.
Traditionally used for
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Urinary & fluids
Cautions & contraindications
- Heart conditions
☯ TCM Properties
Expels Parasites; Promotes Lactation; Promotes Urination and Reduces Edema
Traditional Chinese Uses
Nan Gua Zi (pumpkin seed) is a mild, sweet-neutral herb used in Chinese medicine primarily to expel tapeworms and roundworms from the intestines without harming the digestive Qi. Its gentle, food-safe character makes it one of the more palatable antiparasitic remedies. It also has a mild Lung-moistening quality used for cough, and its nutrient-dense composition gives it additional value in dietary therapy for nutritional support during parasite treatment.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
Full-screen graph →Click a node for details · double-click to expand it · Ctrl/⌘ + scroll or two fingers to zoom and pan.
Botanical Description
Cucurbita moschata, commonly known as winter squash or pumpkin, is an annual, monoecious herbaceous vine in the family Cucurbitaceae, native to the Americas and now cultivated worldwide. It produces long, prostrate or climbing stems bearing branched tendrils and large, palmately lobed, softly hairy leaves with five shallow lobes. Bright yellow to orange, bell-shaped solitary flowers, up to 10 cm across, are unisexual, with staminate and pistillate flowers borne separately on the same plant. The fruit is a large, fleshy, ribbed pepo with orange flesh and a tan to buff rind, containing many flat, ovate, whitish to pale-green seeds enclosed in a thin papery hull. Nan Gua Zi refers to these dried pumpkin seeds, harvested from mature fruits.
Active Constituents
Cucurbitin (3-amino-3-carboxypyrrolidine)
Non-protein amino acidConcentration: Confined to the seed; absent from the flesh. Reported content varies widely between cultivars and no reliable pharmacopoeial figure exists.
The compound most often named as the taenicidal principle of pumpkin seed. It is credited with paralysing the mid and posterior proglottids of tapeworms while leaving the scolex and immature segments unaffected, which is why classical Chinese practice pairs the seed with areca nut and a purgative rather than using it alone.
Linoleic acid
Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acidConcentration: 37.6-39.1% of the seed oil in two Cucurbita moschata seed oils extracted by aqueous enzymatic extraction
The predominant fatty acid of the seed oil. It is a nutritional rather than an anthelmintic constituent and carries no known parasiticidal activity.
Oleic acid
Omega-9 monounsaturated fatty acidConcentration: 31.2-37.5% of the seed oil in Cucurbita moschata seed oils
The second major fatty acid of the seed oil, contributing to its oxidative stability and emollient character in topical use.
Palmitic acid
Saturated fatty acidConcentration: 13.5-19.1% of the seed oil in Cucurbita moschata seed oils
A major saturated component of the seed oil, without pharmacological activity relevant to the anthelmintic indication.
Stearic acid
Saturated fatty acidConcentration: 9.4-11.0% of the seed oil in Cucurbita moschata seed oils
A minor saturated fatty acid of the seed oil.
Cucurbitacins
Oxygenated tetracyclic triterpenesConcentration: Bred out of edible cultivars; present at toxicologically relevant levels only in bitter, reverted or ornamental fruit
Intensely bitter and cytotoxic triterpenes. Culinary Cucurbita moschata has been selected to contain almost none, but bitter reverted plants can accumulate them and cause the severe vomiting and diarrhoea of so-called toxic squash syndrome. Bitterness in the raw material is a reason to reject it, not a sign of potency.
Phytosterols, tocopherols and carotenoids
Mixed lipophilic micronutrientsConcentration: Reported qualitatively in Cucurbita moschata seed oil; no reliable quantitative figures found for this species
Contribute to the antioxidant capacity of the seed oil. Most of the quantitative sterol literature invoked for pumpkin seed actually derives from Cucurbita pepo, so the figures should not be transferred to this species.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Areca nut (Bing Lang, Areca catechu)
This is the standard Chinese taeniasis regimen rather than an accidental interaction: pumpkin seed paralyses the mid and posterior segments of the worm while arecoline from areca nut acts on the scolex and anterior segments, and a saline purge then expels it. Chinese national reviews of anthelmintic practice and of taeniasis control record the pumpkin seed plus areca nut combination as having good efficacy against Taenia. The hazard is contributed almost entirely by the areca nut, whose arecoline is a muscarinic agonist; areca nut is also an IARC Group 1 carcinogen in its own right.
Clinical note: Do not treat the combination as a food-grade remedy. Give it only where taeniasis is confirmed, with atropine available for cholinergic excess, and avoid the areca component in asthma, bradyarrhythmia, peptic ulcer or with beta-blockers, digoxin or cholinesterase inhibitors.
Praziquantel and niclosamide
No published human interaction data exist for Cucurbita moschata seed with either drug. Praziquantel and niclosamide are the effective modern taenicides and pumpkin seed adds nothing established to them, so co-administration mainly compounds nausea and abdominal discomfort without a demonstrated benefit.
Clinical note: Where a licensed taenicide is available it should be used; there is no evidence-based reason to add pumpkin seed to it.
Dui Yao — Herb Pairs
The classical two-herb combinations this herb appears in, each with an action neither herb has alone.
One paralyzes the head and immature segments of tapeworm and the other the mature segments, while one also purges; together they expel tapeworm more completely than either alone.
Nan Gua Zi is taken first, followed by Bing Lang decoction. Bing Lang is contraindicated in Spleen deficiency with loose stools.
Named pairing — Zhong Yao Xue (national textbook); Bensky et al., Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica
Evidence Tier
Moderate evidence · 3 studiesRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
2
0 verified · 2 unverified
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
In Vitro Effects of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Seed Extracts on Echinococcus granulosus Protoscoleces
A hydroalcoholic extract and a petroleum ether extract of Cucurbita moschata seed were tested against Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces at 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 mg/mL over 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes. The result was negative: maximum mortality was 16% for the hydroalcoholic extract and 4% for the petroleum ether extract, and neither reached 50% mortality at any concentration or time point. The authors concluded the total extract is not potent enough to serve as a scolicidal agent. This is a useful counterweight to the general reputation of pumpkin seed as an antiparasitic, and it says nothing about intestinal taeniasis, which is a different clinical target.
Evaluation of Fatty Acid Compositions, Antioxidant, and Pharmacological Activities of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Seed Oil from Aqueous Enzymatic Extraction
Seed oils from two Cucurbita moschata sources were extracted with a pectinase, cellulase and protease mixture and profiled by GC-MS. Linoleic acid was the major fatty acid in every oil, with substantial oleic, palmitic and stearic acid. The oils showed antioxidant activity in DPPH, ABTS, FRAP and ferric thiocyanate assays and inhibited hyaluronidase, collagenase and tyrosinase more strongly than two commercial pumpkin seed oils. These are cosmetic and antioxidant endpoints only; the study tested no anthelmintic, lactogenic or diuretic activity.
Pumpkin seed oil (Cucurbita pepo) versus tamsulosin for benign prostatic hyperplasia symptom relief: a single-blind randomized clinical trial
Included here specifically to mark a species boundary. This randomised trial of pumpkin seed oil against tamsulosin for benign prostatic hyperplasia used Cucurbita pepo, not Cucurbita moschata. Essentially the whole prostate and urinary literature attached to the phrase pumpkin seed rests on C. pepo seed oil, whose sterol and cucurbitin profile differs from that of C. moschata. It should not be cited as evidence for Nan Gua Zi as supplied from C. moschata, and it does not support the promotes urination and reduces edema function attributed to this record.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Gang Mu
Ming dynasty (1596)Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Yi
Qing dynasty (1765)Xian Dai Shi Yong Zhong Yao (Modern Practical Chinese Materia Medica)
Modern era, twentieth centuryReferences
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
📝 Notes
Public notes from the community and your own private notes on Nan Gua Zi.
No notes yet.