The fruit contains at least three active substances with anti-diabetic properties, including charantin, which has been confirmed to have a blood glucose-lowering effect, vicine and an insulin-like compound known as polypeptide-p.
Bitter melon is used in traditional medicine for:
Colic
Fever
Burns
Chronic cough
Painful menstruation
Skin conditions.
It is also used to heal wounds, assist childbirth and, in parts of Africa and Asia, prevent or treat malaria and viral diseases such as measles and chicken pox.
**If you're thinking of adding bitter melon to your diet, make sure you limit yourself to no more than two ounces of bitter melon (or more than two melons) a day, as excessive consumption can cause mild abdominal pain or diarrhoea.
If you are considering using bitter melon for glycemic control, you should consult your doctor or healthcare professional first to check that it is safe for use alongside your prescribed diabetes medication, as there is the risk that taking bitter melon together with these drugs and/or insulin could cause hypoglycemia (extremely low blood sugar).**