Although it's a staple of Chinese and Indian cuisine, bitter melon lives up to its names — it's also known as bitter gourd, bitter apple and bitter cucumber.
Cultivated in tropical areas of Asia, Africa and South America, it's been used as a contraceptive, a treatment for psoriasis and a variety of other purposes. Mainly, though, it's been hailed for lowering blood sugar; the fruit and seeds are loaded with chemicals that appear to have an impact on glucose or insulin. One of the chemicals is similar to cow insulin.
Lab and animal studies suggest that bitter melon may work on several levels, such as boosting insulin secretion, improving the ability of cells to absorb glucose and hindering the release of glucose from the liver. One of the largest studies of bitter melon in people with type 2 diabetes lasted only two days, but the melon caused significant drops in blood sugar for 100 participants within hours of drinking suspended vegetable pulp. A number of smaller but longer trials have had similar results.
Bitter melon is widely used in Asia and appears to be safe for most adults, but it's thought to interfere with fertility, so you shouldn't consume it if you're pregnant or hoping to become pregnant.
Keep it out of the reach of children. A number of reports suggest it's toxic to young bodies, and at least one child is known to have died from drinking the juice.
