Nov 19

Bitter Melon (Momordica Charantia), called Ku Gua in Chinese, has been used to help to prevent or counteract type-II diabetes for thousands of years in China and India. Because of it’s profound influence
on supporting normal glucose levels, we have added bitter melon to our revolutionary herbal formula for blood sugar support, Dia-Slim.

A recent scientific study at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in India, reported that bitter melon increases insulin sensitivity.[1] In 2007, the Philippine Department of Health reported that bitter melon, as a scientifically validated medicinal plant, can lower elevated blood sugar levels. The study revealed that 100 milligrams per kilogram of body-weight per day, is comparable to 2.5 milligrams of the anti-diabetes drug Glibenclamide taken twice per day.[2]

Bitter Melon contains four very promising bioactive compounds. These compounds activate a protein called AMPK, which is well known for regulating food metabolism and enabling glucose uptake, processes which
are impaired in diabetics. “We can now understand at a molecular level why bitter melon works as a treatment for diabetes,” said David James, director of the diabetes and obesity program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. “By isolating the compounds we believe to be therapeutic, we can investigate how they work together in our cells.”[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Bitter melon contains a lectin that has insulin-like activity. The insulin-like bioactivity of this lectin is due to its linking together 2 insulin receptors. This lectin lowers blood glucose concentrations by acting on peripheral tissues and, similar to insulin’s effects in the brain, suppressing appetite. This lectin is likely a major contributor to the hypoglycemic effect that develops after eating bitter melon and why it may be a way of managing adult-onset diabetes. Lectin binding is non- protein specific, and this is likely why bitter melon has been credited with immunostimulatory activity—by linking receptors that modulate the immune system, thereby stimulating said receptors.

To learn more about how we use Bitter Melon in our herbal formula Dia-Slim go here.

1. Sridhar MG, Vinayagamoorthi R, Arul Suyambunathan V, Bobby Z, Selvaraj
N (4/1/2008). “Bitter gourd ( Momordica charantia) improves insulin
sensitivity by increasing skeletal muscle insulin-stimulated IRS-1
tyrosine phosphorylation in high-fat-fed rats” British Journal of
Nutrition 99 (04): 806. doi:10.1017/S000711450783176X. PMID 17942003.

2. “Ampalaya tablets out soon for diabetics”. GMANews.TV. March 27, 2007.

3. Tan, Min-Jia; Ji-Ming Ye, Nigel Turner, Cordula Hohnen-Behrens, Chang-
Qiang Ke, Chun-Ping Tang, Tong Chen, Hans-Christoph Weiss, Ernst-Rudolf
Gesing, Alex Rowland, David E. James, and Yang Ye (21 March 2008).
“Antidiabetic Activities of Triterpenoids Isolated from Bitter Melon
Associated with Activation of the AMPK Pathway”. Chemistry & Biology 15
(3): 263–273. doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2008.01.013.

4. Rao BK, Kesavulu MM, Giri R, Appa Rao C (October 1999). “Antidiabetic
and hypolipidemic effects of Momordica cymbalaria Hook. fruit powder in
alloxan-diabetic rats”. J Ethnopharmacol 67 (1): 103–9. doi:10.1016/S0378
-8741(99)00004-5.

5. Virdi J, Sivakami S, Shahani S, Suthar AC, Banavalikar MM, Biyani MK.
(September 2003). “Antihyperglycemic effects of three extracts from
Momordica charantia”. J Ethnopharmacol 88 (1): 107–11. doi:10.1016/S0378-
8741(03)00184-3.

6. Shetty AK, Kumar GS, Sambaiah K, Salimath PV (September 2005). “Effect
of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) on glycaemic status in
streptozotocin induced diabetic rats”. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 60 (3): 109–
12.

7. Krawinkel MB, Keding GB (July 2006). “Bitter gourd (Momordica
Charantia): A dietary approach to hyperglycemia”. Nutr Rev. 64 (7 Pt 1):
331–7.

8. Miura T, Itoh C, Iwamoto N, Kato M, Kawai M, Park SR, Suzuki I (October
2001). “Hypoglycemic activity of the fruit of the Momordica charantia in
type 2 diabetic mice”. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) 47 (5): 340–