ampalaya (bitter melon): a natural diabetes cure?

It's diabetes awareness week in our part of the globe, and what can be more appropriate than a post about a natural diabetes cure that can help treat the ailment and save thousands of lives in the years to come.

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I hadn't seen or even talked to her in more than six years, but when I finally spoke to Millie several weeks ago she had some very good news. The diabetes she had been complaining and worrying about for years is gone, cured by a natural diabetes treatment known hereabouts as ampalaya (bitter melon or bitter gourd). I couldn't believe it at first but she swore the bitter melon cured her diabetes. She said she stopped taking her medicine more than five years ago and simply relied on proper diet, exercise and the ampalaya (bitter melon) recipe she got from an herbalist many years ago. I remember that concoction. I used to see Millie take tablespoons of it during lunch break and asked her about it. It was unappetizingly green
and smelled rancid, a concoction made from boiling a cup of chopped ampalaya leaves with two cups of water (1:2). I even tried it once, egged on by Millie of course, for she knew that I come from a family of diabetics and, as she put it, "It's never too early to start." I almost puked! Besides the unappetizing color and smell, it was the bitterest thing I have ever tasted, and I swore I wouldn't touch it again.

I asked Millie how she got used to its repulsive taste and she said that she had no choice but to bear it. She wanted to beat diabetes and if that's what it would take then that's what she would do. She tried using commercially available bitter melon teas and tablets but found them deficient compared to her concoction. They may be more convenient and free of the bitter taste but nothing compared to her concoction, according to her. She said chilling the substance to almost its freezing point helps to camouflage the bitterness, but I doubt if anything can camouflage what I tasted. He he. However, to many diabetics, it's efficacy as a natural diabetes treatment can more than make up for its repulsive taste and Millie is living proof of this.

I have not been diagnosed as a diabetic yet but my mom's doctor has classified me as "predisposed". This has made me conscious of my diet (a little) and exercise (a little). On the other hand, Mom has been a diabetic for many years and I had tried to convince her to use Millie's concoction to no avail. In fact, I even prepared small batch for her to sample several years ago. Predictably, she didn't even try it, turned off by the color and odor of the substance. However, with this recent news of Millie's success, Mom has signified interest in trying it again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Postscript: While looking for images to go with this post, I found a photo of a bottle of bitter melon beer from China (?). Now isn't that good news? I think that's the concoction most suitable for me, diabetes or no diabetes! He he.

Also, I found the following entry from Wikipedia:

Bitter melons have been used in various Asian traditional medicine systems for a long time. Like most bitter-tasting foods, bitter melon stimulates digestion. While this can be helpful in people with sluggish digestion, dyspepsia, and constipation, it can sometimes make heartburn and ulcers worse. The fact that bitter melon is also a demulcent and at least mild inflammation modulator, however, means that it rarely does have these negative effects, based on clinical experience and traditional reports.

Though it has been claimed that bitter melon’s bitterness comes from quinine, no evidence could be located supporting this claim. Bitter melon is traditionally regarded by Asians, as well as Panamanians and Colombians, as useful for preventing and treating malaria. Laboratory studies have confirmed that various species of bitter melon have anti-malarial activity, though human studies have not yet been published.

Laboratory tests suggest that compounds in bitter melon might be effective for treating HIV infection. As most compounds isolated from bitter melon that impact HIV have either been proteins or glycoproteins lectins), neither of which are well-absorbed, it is unlikely that oral intake of bitter melon will slow HIV in infected people. It is possible oral ingestion of bitter melon could offset negative effects of anti-HIV drugs, if a test tube study can be shown to be applicable to people. In one preliminary clinical trial, an enema form of a bitter melon extract showed some benefits in people infected with HIV (Zhang 1992). Clearly more research is necessary before this could be recommended.

The other realm showing the most promise related to bitter melon is as an immunomodulator. One clinical trial found very limited evidence that bitter melon might improve immune cell function in people with cancer, but this needs to be verified and amplified in other research. If proven correct this is another way bitter melon could help people infected with HIV.

Folk wisdom has it that ampalaya helps to prevent or counteract type-II diabetes, although outside of anecdotal stories scientific evidence for this claim is limited. Regardless of its efficacy in this regard, it is sold in the Philippines as a food supplement and elixir for this purpose. Studies so far demonstrate improvement but not cure in some diabetic parameters.

Bitter Melon contains four very promising bioactive compounds.

These compounds activate a protein called AMPK, which is well known for regulating fuel metabolism and enabling glucose uptake, processes which are impaired in diabetics.

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