Bitter Melon For Diabetes

Bitter melon is a plant that is grown as a food and medicine in tropical areas like the Amazon, Asia and the Caribbean. It's a slender, climbing vine with a fruit that looks like a warty cucumber. Its Latin name Momordica means "to bite", because the jagged edges of its leaves appear as if they have been bitten. Everything in the Momordica plant, especially the fruit, taste extremely bitter.
[Bitter Melon]

Medicinally, the plant has long been used by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon to treat diabetes, intestinal gas, as an antiviral for measles and hepatitis. It promotes menstruation and is also used to topically treat sores, eczema, leprosy and large wounds. It is used by tribesmen to heal hypertension, malaria, fevers and headaches. Taken internally, it is effective in expelling worms and parasites in adults and children.

In numerous modern studies, all parts of the plant have been found to clinically demonstrate hypoglycemic (blood sugar lowering) properties and other beneficial properties against diabetes mellitus. The fruit's extract has shown the ability to enhance the body's glucose uptake and promotes insulin release. In other in vivo studies, the fruit and seed have been shown to reduce total cholesterol by significant amounts. Other studies have also demonstrated the anti-cancerous and anti-leukemic properties of bitter melon against liver cancer, leukemia and melanoma. Bitter melon is also effective against numerous viruses, including the Epstein-Barr, herpes and HIV viruses. In one study, a leaf extract increased the resistance to viral infections while also increasing the abilities of our natural killer cells. In addition, the fruit and fruit juice have shown strong antibacterial properties, especially against E.Coli.

Today, bitter melon capsules and teas have become more widely available in the Western world. Concentrated fruit extracts are now available in capsule form, as well as in powders and tinctures. It is also a suggested complementary treatment for diabetes, viruses, colds and flu, high cholesterol, psoriasis and certain cancers. The traditional method of making bitter herb tea is as follows: One cup of a standard leaf decoction taken two times daily, or 1-3 ml of tincture taken twice daily. The traditional South-American remedy and the most potent way of using bitter melon for diabetes is to extract the juice of a fresh bitter melon fruit to be drunk twice daily on an empty stomach. For seed or fruit extracts in capsules, make sure to follow the instructions on the label.

Even more effective than a conventional drug in lowering blood sugar!
Recently, the Department of Health in the Philippines has recommended bitter melon as one of the best herbal medicines for diabetic management. And multiple clinical studies have clearly established the role of bitter melon in people with diabetes.1 Scientists have now identified three groups of constituents that are thought to be responsible for its 'blood sugar lowering' action.

One of these, a compound called charantin, which is composed of mixed steroids, was found to be more effective than the oral hypoglycaemic drug, tolbutamide, in reducing blood sugar.

Another, an insulin-like polypeptide, called polypeptide P, appears to lower blood sugar in type I (insulin dependent) diabetics, while alkaloids present in the fruit have also been noted to have a blood sugar lowering effect. As yet, researchers are unclear as to which of these compounds is most effective or if it is the synergistic effect of all three. Further research is required to understand how these compounds actually work.

Compounds known as oleanolic acid glycosides have been found to improve glucose tolerance in Type II (maturity onset) diabetics by preventing the absorption of sugar from the intestines. Bitter melon has also been reported to increase the number of beta cells (cells that secrete insulin) in the pancreas, thereby improving your body's capability to produce insulin (insulin promotes the uptake of sugar from your blood by cells and tissues).

In one study, glucose tolerance was improved in 73 per cent of type II diabetics given 2oz of bitter melon juice. 2 In another study, 15 grams of the aqueous extract of bitter melon produced a 54 per cent decrease in post-prandial (occurring after eating) blood sugar in six patients.

In another study, published in a 1981 issue of the Journal of Natural Products, bitter melon was prepared as an injectable “plant insulin” and injected into five patients with type 1 and six patients with type 2. There was a control group of six patients 6 with type 1 and two patients with type 2 who did not receive any bitter melon.

In type 1s, average glucose decreased from 304 to 169 mg/dl four hours after injection; this effect was maintained at six and eight hours after injection.