3 Potential Side Effects of Pumpkin Seeds

Whether you eat them whole or extract them from their pulpy web, pumpkin seeds are full of protein, fiber and important minerals, per the Mayo Clinic. But while pumpkin seeds offer health and nutritional benefits — and are a tasty, crunchy add-in to salads and trail mix — they can also be a source of some undesirable side effects.

Here's what you need to know about the potential side effects of eating pumpkin seeds, along with how to ward off these GI-related effects.

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of fiber, with 0.9 grams of fiber per one-ounce serving of shelled seeds, according to the USDA. Eating the same amount of pumpkin seeds in the shell means even more fiber, with 2 grams, per the USDA.

And that fiber delivers many benefits, such as keeping you regular, lowering cholesterol, helping you get to a healthy weight and controlling blood sugar, per the Mayo Clinic. But eating high-fiber foods can also cause indigestion, per the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). That is, you may feel bloated, gassy and flatulent and generally experience GI discomfort after having a handful (or several) of high-fiber pumpkin seeds.

Here's why: Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that isn't fully digestible by your body. Unlike other carbs (think: rice, flour and so on), fiber doesn't break down into glucose, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Publishing. Instead, the undigested fiber travels to your large intestine, where it's broken down by bacteria, with various gasses released as part of that process, per Cedars-Sinai.

Eating more fiber than you're used to can also lead to loose, watery stools aka diarrhea, according to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research.

This may feel confusing, since fiber is often recommended as a fix for diarrhea. (Here are the best fiber supplements for diarrhea.) But as it turns out, not all fiber has the same effect on your body.

There are two broad categories of fiber: soluble (which dissolves in water, forming a gel-like substance) and insoluble, which does not, per the Mayo Clinic. Seeds tend to have insoluble fiber, per the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Health. But if you have diarrhea, you'll want to focus on adding soluble fiber, not insoluble fiber, according to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research.

That said, most plant-foods have a mix of both types of fiber.

Constipation is also a possible side effect of eating pumpkin seeds — just as a lot of fiber can lead to loose stools, it can also have the reverse effect, and stop you up temporarily, per the Cleveland Clinic.

As with diarrhea, fiber can both cause the problem, and act as a potential useful solution.

Fortunately, when it comes to fiber-filled pumpkin seeds, the ways to avoid these GI-related symptoms are simple:

• ‌Eat seeds in moderation‌: Adding too much fiber, too fast, to your diet can lead to digestive woes. Incorporate pumpkin seeds — and other high-fiber foods — to your diet over the course of weeks to help avoid gas and bloating, per the Mayo Clinic. A typical serving size for seeds is an ounce (or about 1/4 cup).
• ‌Discard the shell:‌ Since the shells are a big source of fiber, you can remove them to reduce your fiber intake.
• ‌Drink water, too:‌ If you're upping your fiber intake, make sure to add water as well to ward off constipation, according to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research.