Health benefit of Bitter Melon

Nutritional Highlight 
Bitter Melon is excellent source of vitamin C, folic acid, thiamine, riboflavin and pantothenic acid. It also a good source of zinc, potassium, magnesium and manganese.

Health Benefit
The hypoglycemic effect of the fresh juice of bitter melon has been confirm by scientific study. A compound know as charantin in bitter melon is even more potent than tolbutamide which use to treat diabetes. Bitter melon also contain an insulin like compound which is polypeptide P or vegetable insulin. Thus, they have been suggested as replacement for insulin in some patient. 
The ripe fruit of bitter melon has been shown to exhibit anticancer effect, especially against leukemia.

*When bitter melon is prescribed as a therapeutic agent in diabetes, patients are told to eat one small melon or take no more than 60ml per day. Diabetic taking hypoglycemic drug may need to alter the dosage of these drug if they consume bitter melon on a daily basis.
*Bitter melon should not be eaten by pregnant women because the active constituents (alpha and beta-monorcharins) have been shown to stimulate the uterus and may cause preterm labor.

Reference: The Encyclopedia of Healing Food