This herbaceous, tendril-bearing vine grows to 5 m. It bears simple, alternate leaves 4–12 cm across, with three to seven deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears separate yellow male and female flowers. In the Northern Hemisphere, flowering occurs during June to July and fruiting during September to November.
The fruit has a distinct warty exterior and an oblong shape. It is hollow in cross-section, with a relatively thin layer of flesh surrounding a central seed cavity filled with large, flat seeds and pith. The fruit is most often eaten green, or as it is beginning to turn yellow. At this stage, the fruit's flesh is crunchy and watery in texture, similar to cucumber, chayote or green bell pepper, but bitter. The skin is tender and edible. Seeds and pith appear white in unripe fruits; they are not intensely bitter and can be removed before cooking.
As the fruit ripens, the flesh (rind) becomes tougher, more bitter, and too distasteful to eat. On the other hand, the pith becomes sweet and intensely red; it can be eaten uncooked in this state, and is a popular ingredient in some Southeast Asian salads.
When the fruit is fully ripe, it turns orange and mushy, and splits into segments which curl back dramatically to expose seeds covered in bright red pulp.
Varieties:
Bitter melon comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Chinese variety is 20–30 cm long, oblong with bluntly tapering ends and pale green in color, with a gently undulating, warty surface. The bitter melon more typical of India has a narrower shape with pointed ends, and a surface covered with jagged, triangular "teeth" and ridges. It is green to white in color. Between these two extremes are any number of intermediate forms. Some bear miniature fruit of only 6–10 cm in length, which may be served individually as stuffed vegetables. These miniature fruit are popular in India and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Medicinal uses:
Bitter melon has been used in various Asian and African herbal medicine systems for a long time. In Turkey, it has been used as a folk remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly stomach complaints. The fruit is broken up and soaked in either olive oil or honey.
Bitter Melon Health Benefits
Anti-oxidative Activity
Boiled bitter melon extracts show anti-oxidant activities. Extracts from bitter melon (Momordica charantia,
Cucurbitaceae) showed a significant difference in the free radical scavenging activity between the extract obtained by
using cold maceration and that prepared by boiling the plant in the solvent under reflux, suggesting the chemical
composition of the plant changed during the heating process, leading to an increase in the amount of antioxidant
components. [5] It is believed that its strong anti-oxdative activity allows the variety of health benefits of bitter melon.
Alzheimer's disease
Four lectins (Abrus precatorius (APA), Maackia amurensis (MAA), Bitter Melon and Sambucus nigra (SNA)) have been
used to identify glycohistochemically the microglial cells (MGC) activation in autoptic brain samples from Alzheimer's
disease subjects. Three of these lectins including the one from bitter melon have utilized as microglial cell markers for
the first time. It would be interesting to see if there is any benefit of bitter melon on Alzheimer's disease.
Cancers
Bitter melon extracts may provide benefits for cancers as they have shown anti-cancer activities in a study of Swiss
albino mice. A significant decrease in tumor burden was observed in short and long-term treatment. Also, total tumor
incidence reduced to 83.33% with 2.5% dose and 90.90% with 5% dose in short term treatment, while in long-term
treatment tumor incidence decreased to 76.92% with 2.5% dose and 69.23% with 5% dose of bitter melon. Seed oil
from bitter melon (Momordica charantia), which is rich in cis(c)9, trans(t)11, t13-conjugated linolenic acid, has been
shown to inhibit the development of azoxymethane-induced colonic aberrant crypt foci. Seed oil from bitter melon rich in
t13-conjugated linolenic acid can suppress azoxymethane -induced colon carcinogenesis and the inhibition might be
caused, in part, by modification of lipid composition in the colon and liver and/or increased expression of PPARgamma
protein level in the colon mucosa. Furthermore, Pitchakarn P and other researchers at Nagoya City University demonstrated the possibly beneficial effects
of a bitter melon leaf extract on prostate cancer in a cell study.
Cholesterol profiles
Bitter melon may also have benefits of lipid-lowering activities. Researchers have shown the hypolipidemic effect of
dietary methanol fraction (BMMF) extracted from bitter melon (Koimidori variety), at the levels of 0.5% and 1.0%, in male
golden Syrian hamsters. The results of another study have clearly shown that that bitter melon, especially Koimidori
variety, exhibited a potent liver triglyceride-lowering activity. The triglyceride lowering activity was furthermore confirmed
by the dose-dependent reduction of hepatic triglyceride, resulting the lowest level in rats fed 3.0% supplementation.
Diabetes
With limited scientific supports, bitter melon is general believed to benefit diabetes. In a study, researchers from University of Bologna, Italy, asked
720 herbalists what herbal remedy that they would recommend to those suffered from diabetes. They suggested ten herbal remedies and bitter
melon is in the list. According to a review article, bitter melon has been recognized as a Chinese herbal medicine for diabetes mellitus for
centuries. And, it is more popular in Asia to be used as a natural product for diabetes. Researchers from Natural Standard, MA, consider
bitter melon an alternative therapy that has primarily been used for lowering blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes mellitus. Components of
bitter melon extract appear to have structural similarities to animal insulin. Bitter melon has been shown to have anti-viral and anti-neoplastic
activities. Small trials have shown the moderate hypoglycemic effect of bitter melon juice, fruit or its dried powder. Thus, bitter melon may benefit
certain people at risk of diabetes.
High Fat Diet
How may bitter melon benefit those on high fat diet? Increased metabolic flux to the brain during overnutrition and obesity can orchestrate stress
response, blood-brain barrier disruption, recruitment of inflammatory immune cells from peripheral blood and microglial cells activation leading to
neuroinflammation. Mice were fed high fat diet with and without bitter melon for 16 weeks. Bitter melon ameliorated high fed diet-associated changes
in blood brain barrier permeability. High fat diet-induced brain oxidative stress was also significantly reduced by bitter melon supplementation.
HIV
Ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) from bitter melon shows promising in anti-viral therapy. It has been reported that RIPs are member of the
single chain ribosome inactivating protein (SCRIP) family which act irreversibly on ribosome by removing adenine residue from eukaryotic ribosomal
RNA. Various activities of RIPs include anti-tumor, broad anti-viral, ribonuclease and deoxyribonuclease.
Liver Damage
In a study, a formulation (containing Ferula asafetida, bitter melon and Nardostachys jatamansi) demonstrated significant hepatoprotective activity.
[A9] But, this does not mean bitter melon itself has hepato-protective effects. More studies are needed to demonstrate its benefits on liver.
Malaria
Oral administration of the Crude ethanolic extracts of dry bitter melon leaves administered orally was ineffective up to 500 mg/kg in lowering the
parasitemic levels of malarious mice.
Measles
An ethnobotanical survey of three Local Government areas of the Ijebu area of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria for plants used in the treatment of
measles suggests bitter melon is one of the most frquently used plants for measles.
Nematodes
Das P and co-workers at Visva Bharati University, India, assayed six plant extracts for their activity against free-living nematodes. Bitter melon
yielded the best results, its crude extract producing 96% mortality. Thus, bitter melon may have the benefits of antihelminthic effect.
Kidney Stone
Insufficient data to support the health benefit claim of bitter melon on people suffered from kidney stones.
Psoriasis
Insufficient data to support the health benefit claim of bitter melon on people suffered from psoriasis.
Bitter Melon Side Effects, Warnings and Precautions
Bitter melon has been eaten as a food in many cultures for many years, it probably is safe to healthy adults at regular amount of consumption when
used short-term. However, covering on seed may be toxic in children, leading to vomiting, diarrhea, and death. Intake of the seed may lead to
favism, especially those with G6PD deficiency. Hypoglycemia and hypatotoxicity were reported in animal studies Rare, unusual side effects may
include atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response and acute gastric ulceration. Other possible bitter melon side effects include liver
inflammation, and spontaneous abortion. Pregnant women should avoid bitter melon.
Drug Interaction
Bitter melon may also have additive effects when taken with other glucose-lowering agents. Popular medications for diabetes include glimepiride,
glyburide, insulin, pioglitazone, rosiglitazone, chlorpropamide, glipizide, tolbutamide, and others.
Dosage
Bitter melon is a food. At this time there is not enough scientific information to determine an appropriate range of doses for bitter melon.
No comments:
Post a Comment