
Can Ampalaya or Bitter Melon Treat Diabetes? Or Prevent Cancer?
Can Ampalaya or Bitter Melon Treat Diabetes? Or Prevent Cancer?
October 7, 2017 Natural Healing Comments: 1
So many diabetics are hopeful that ampalaya can cure diabetes but to put the record straight, ampalaya cannot cure diabetes, it can only control the disease.
The scientific name of ampalaya is Momordica charantia. It is known as bitter gourd or bitter melon but in the Philippines, it is called ampalaya.
Ampalaya is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family where the squashes, gourds, and melons also belong. That is why it is called bitter melon or bitter gourd. It is considered one of the most bitter fruits which also have culinary benefits.
Ampalaya has that bitter taste due to the presence of momordicin, a substance that is sometimes referred to as plant insulin which gives ampalaya its blood-sugar-lowering properties.
A number of scientific studies on the effect of ampalaya on blood sugar levels have been done.
One of these studies is a 10-year trial undertaken by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD). The study compared ampalaya leaves with the anti-diabetes drug glibenclamide.
The study results showed that 100 milligrams per kilo dose per day of ampalaya could be equal to 2.8 milligrams of the anti-diabetes drug glibenclamide.
This means that the action of ampalaya on blood sugar could be the same to the action of gibenclamide.
Because of this study, the Philippine Department of Health (DoH) has raised the status of ampalaya from a nutritional supplement to a real medicine.
The clinical studies on the sugar lowering effect of
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