Botanical Name -: Momordica Charantia
Family Name -: Cucurbitaceae
Other Name -: bitter melon, papailla, melao de sao caetano, bittergourd, balsam apple, balsam pear
Description
A tropical fruit, also known as balsam pear, bitter melon is a vegetable widely cultivated in Asia, Africa and South America. The climbing plant is cultivated in gardens and everywhere in India for its fruit. It has two types one with small roundish or ovoid fruits and the other longer and more cucumber like .It contains glucoside soluble in water , insoluble in ether a yellow acid , resin and ash 6 p.c. Fresh vegetables contains 88.75 p.c. moisture and the completely dried material contain ether extract 2.93 p.c. Albuminoids 1.62, soluble carbohydrates 85.41 p.c. woody fibre 1.51 p.c. and ash 8.53 p.c. One of them, charantin, is an efficientsugar-lowering agent composed of mixed steroids. Another active ingredient, momordica, is a polypeptide (protein) which reduces blood sugar levels, in much the same way as insulin, when injected into insulin-dependent diabetics. It's a slim, hiking yearly creeper with long-stalked leaves and yellow, lonely male and female flowers borne in the leaf axils.It can grow up to 5 m. The fruit is bright green with an oblong shape. It has many shape and size. In chinese herbalist is recommended this plant for an appetite stimulant and as a treatment for gastrointestinal infection and against cancer
Uses
Bitter melon contains several compounds that have antidiabetic properties. The fruit is tonic, stomachic, stimulant , emetic, laxative . The seeds are anthelmintic . The fruit is useful in gout ,rheumatism and sub acute cases of the spleen and liver . It is supposed to purify blood and dissipate melancholia and gross humours. Fruits and leaves are both administrated internally in leprosy , piles, jaundice etc. Leaves acts as galactagogue. It is used topically for sores, wounds, and infections and internally and externally for worms and parasites. The whole plant is useful for tumors, wounds, rheumatism, malaria, vaginal.. The leaf is commonly used for stomach pain, diabetes, fevers, colds, coughs, headaches, malaria, skin complaints, menstrual disorders, aches and pains, hypertension, infections, and as an aid in delievery.
How to Use in Different Diseases
As a tea is useful in malaria and diabetes. The fresh juice and the extract of the unripe fruit have been found in various studies to have a blood sugar lowering effect. As such, bitter melon is extensively used in folk medicine as a treatment for diabetes. Another active ingredient, momordica, is a polypeptide (protein) which reduces blood sugar levels, in much the same way as insulin, when injected into insulin-dependent diabetics. The leaf juice is given in bilious affections as emetic and purgative alone or command binned with aromatics. The leaf juice in which black pepper is ground is applied found the orbit for night blindness. It is very useful in stomach troubles. Root is applied externally as paste to piles. The whole plant powder is useful for dusting over leprous and other intractable ulcers and in healing wounds , An ointment is useful in scabies, cuts, scars , maligent ulcers and other skin diseases. The juice of the fruit is also useful in menstrual disorders such as dysmenorrhoea. The plant is also very beneficial in snake – bites. A leaf tea is used for diabetes, to banish intestinal gas, to support menstruation, and as an antiviral for measles, hepatitis, and feverish conditions. The capsules are useful in cold and flu and it should be taken one cap one time a day with water at meal times.
Dose and Preparations
Tea, juice, extract, powder, capsules
Powder-3 to 6 gm
Capsules- One caps
Juice-5to 10ml
Tea- 2 to 4gm
Extract- 5 to 10ml