Bitter Gourd
Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), also known as bitter melon, is a popular vegetable in Asia. It provides essential micronutrients and dietary fiber required for good health. Bitter gourd has been used in traditional medicine for managing diabetes and other diseases. In the past decade, scientific evidence increasingly has shown that bitter gourd can contribute to lowering high blood sugar and high blood pressure, and help in maintaining a healthy weight.
Preparing Bitter Gourd
The tender fruit of bitter gourd can be eaten as a salad, consumed as juice, or cooked in different dishes. The leaves and seeds also can be used for cooking. Bitter gourd can be substituted for different vegetables in your favorite dishes. In Asian cultures, the white spongy pulp of the fruit is usually removed due to its strong bitterness. In India, bitter gourd is stir-fried with spices or stewed in a curry. To reduce the bitterness, the bitter gourd slices are soaked in tamarind water. In Taiwan, bitter gourd is often cooked with pineapple in chicken soup. Soaking bitter gourd slices in ice water, salt and lemon juice can lessen the bitterness. Bitter gourd slices can be baked into chips. Dried fruits and leaves are made into tea, which is popular in Southeast Asia. Fresh bitter gourd juice mixed with fruit is a refreshing drink for a hot day.
Bitter Gourd Recipes
The recipes in this pamphlet are designed for culinary use only and have not been proven to lower blood glucose.
(Here you can insert the recipes suitable for your local culture)

The Bitter Gourd Project
AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center and its partners from India, Tanzania, and Taiwan are studying the potential of bitter gourd in managing type 2 diabetes and promoting good health.
The Bitter Gourd Project is a project of AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany. Project collaborators: Justus-Liebig University (Germany), Punjab Agricultural University (India), Avinashilingam Deemed University for Women (India), Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (Tanzania), and National Taiwan University (Taiwan).  

For more information:
http://www.bitter-gourd.org
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.%20">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 More diabetes information

International Diabetes Foundation
http://www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday/
World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/diabetes/

Precautions
Consumption of high quantity of bitter gourd may not be suitable for:
•    People with low blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia)      
•    Pregnant and lactating mothers           
•    Young children            
•    Diabetes patients on oral drug treatment
Bitter gourd should not be consumed on an empty stomach.