Bitter melon is known for its pharmacological activity and nutritional properties. It contains many biologically active compounds, some of which have strong biological effects. Bitter melon is an adjuvant used to prevent different diseases, mainly including diabetes and other diseases related to inflammation.
Bitter Melon Ingredients
In addition to eating bitter gourd, the seeds, leaves and vines of bitter gourd have high medicinal value. Proteins and peptides are the main components in bitter melon extract.
Scholars at home and abroad have separated and extracted various proteins and peptides from bitter melon fruits and seeds in different regions and varieties. The identification showed that the medicinal ingredients in bitter gourd mainly include hypoglycemic polypeptide-P and mcIRBP-19, which have hypoglycemic effect. Glycoprotein MC-VFK7S has antioxidant, hypolipidemic and antihypertensive functions. MCP30, a protein isolated from bitter melon seeds, has anticancer properties. BG-4, another novel peptide isolated from bitter melon, can inhibit the proliferation and promote apoptosis of colon cancer cells. RNase MC2 protein has specific antitumor activity and is a promising drug for different cancers.
What Is Bitter Melon Extract Good For?
Bitter melon has a variety of biological activities, among which antidiabetic activity, antioxidant/anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities have received extensive attention.
1. Antidiabetic activity
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by impaired glucose tolerance, relative or absolute insulin deficiency and changes in macronutrient metabolism.
Bitter melon fruit and seed extracts improve glucose and amino acid absorption. Bitter melon extract has a positive protective effect on diabetic complications, neuropathy and microvascular damage to the eyes and kidneys.
2. Anti-obesity and lipid-lowering
The bioactive components in bitter melon have the effect of preventing obesity. L6 myotubes and 3T3-L1 lipids treated with bitter melon extract
Adipocytes can inhibit fat synthesis and prevent obesity. New cucurbitacin-type triterpenoids isolated from ethanol extract of Momordica charantia enhance potential for preventing and treating obesity by improving insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis.
3. Anti-inflammatory / Antioxidant
Lifestyle and dietary habits promote chronic inflammation and persistent infection, altering the immune status and gut microbiota. Anti-inflammatory activity of bitter melon reduces inflammation caused by bacteria.
Antioxidants are used to prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. Bitter melon is a good source of antioxidants.
Prospects
So far, research on the biological activity of bitter melon has developed rapidly. The isolation and identification of bioactive components in plants has attracted increasing attention and is still on the rise. The application of bitter melon in food, medicine and other fields is still in the primary processing stage, and its health benefits are far from being fully utilized. Bitter melon has many health functions, and on the premise of ensuring safety, it has broad clinical application prospects in the fields of hypoglycemia and tumor treatment.