Bitter melon is characterized by its bitter taste and is known for its many amazing health benefits. However, you have really understood those uses. So let AnCu Life help you know more about the effects of bitter melon on health and the notes when choosing to use this food!
1. Some features of bitter melon
Characteristics
Bitter gourd has the scientific name Momordica
charantia. Bitter melon is a climbing plant that grows in the tropics and
subtropics, in the same family as cucurbits and cucumbers. This is the most
bitter of all fruits and vegetables.
The length of the wire body can grow to 5m. Bitter
gourd leaves have 3-7 deeply separated lobes, about 4-12cm wide and hairy. The
male and female flowers of bitter melon are different in color.
The fruit shape is oblong and the outer wrinkled,
markedly resembling nodules. The fleshy layer surrounds the seed cavity, the
middle is filled with a large nodule and seeds. When fully ripe, bitter melon
turns orange and soft. When raw, it is green or slightly yellow (depending on
the variety of bitter melon).
Bitter melon comes in many varieties and is grown
throughout the countries of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Depending on the
variety, the shape, color and bitterness of bitter melon will be different.
For example:
Most of the bitter gourd varieties in China have an
oblong shape of about 20 - 30cm, green color (even with a little yellow) and
have large nodules next to small nodules. While Indian bitter melon, the fruit
has a narrower oblong shape with 2 pointed ends along with the surface of
small, dark green nodules.
2. Nutritional value of bitter melon
Bitter melon is one of the foods that provide many
important nutrients for the body.
On average, every 100g of bitter melon includes:
- Energy: 21 kcal
- Water: 93.95g
- Carbohydrates: 4.26g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Vitamin C: 89.4mg
- Iron: 0.77mg
- Vitamin A: 426 IU
The composition of vitamins A, C, folate and fiber in
bitter melon contains a lot. In addition, there are other beneficial antioxidants
such as catechin, gallic acid, epicatechin and chlorogenic acid that help
protect cells from disease, especially cancer.
3. The benefits of bitter melon
Here are the most prominent effects of bitter melon
that you should know to have a reasonable diet from this fruit:
Helps reduce blood sugar
Many studies have been tested on different scales, with
the same results: bitter melon can contribute to long-term improvements in
blood sugar levels, positively affecting the index of fructosamine and
hemoglobin A1c .
According to a 3-month study on 24 adults with
diabetes, the results showed that when taking 2,000mg of bitter melon daily, it
was able to reduce blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c. In addition, bitter melon
also reduces fructosamine - a factor that helps control blood sugar.
In addition, other evidence shows that bitter melon
also increases insulin secretion by the pancreas, which reduces glucose
absorption in the intestine, instead increasing the ability to absorb and use
glucose in peripheral tissues. The result is a decrease in blood sugar.
However, we still need to have more tests to prove: how
bitter melon really affects the blood sugar levels of the majority, instead of
testing on the body of people. have diabetes.
Helps prevent cancer
According to the results of test-tube studies, bitter
melon has the ability to fight cancer in the stomach, colon, lung, oropharynx
and breast cancer, such as:
- Bitter melon extract is effective in killing cancer
cells in the stomach, colon, lung and nasopharynx.
- Bitter melon extract can also prevent the growth and
spread of breast cancer cells, even kill cancer cells.
And until now, there are still many other studies going
on to prove that: when consumed with bitter melon in daily food, it will affect
the development and growth of cancer cells.
Lower cholesterol
When cholesterol is high, fatty plaques can build up in
the arteries, making the heart work harder to pump blood to the organs, leading
to the body's susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.
Several animal studies have shown that: bitter melon
extract can lower cholesterol levels and contribute to heart health:
A test on rats (following a high cholesterol diet), it
was observed that: the use of bitter melon extract significantly reduced total
cholesterol, especially bad cholesterol, LDL and cholesterol. neutral.
Another test on mice showed similar results.
Support weight loss
Fiber is contained in bitter melon but contains few
calories (for every 100g of raw bitter melon there is 2.1g of fiber), so this
is a food that helps in weight loss as well as belly fat. Fiber will make your
digestive system work slower, help you feel full longer and avoid cravings.
In addition, according to some studies, bitter melon
also has a useful effect in burning fat, supporting the weight loss process
more effectively. Like the results of a study on 42 adults (including 21 men
and 21 women) showed: they lost an average of 1.3 cm in waist circumference
after adding bitter melon to their diet for 7 weeks.
Furthermore, another study in rats (with a high-fat
diet) observed that: bitter melon extract reduced their body mass compared to
baseline.
4. Note when using bitter melon
Although bitter melon has high nutritional value and
benefits for health, you should also note some problems when using this food.
Cause side effects
Consuming too much bitter melon in a short time can
cause harm to health such as making the body vomit, diarrhea and stomach pain.
Consider using for pregnant women
A woman's body during pregnancy is often sensitive to
many foods, especially affecting the development and safety of the fetus.
Because it contains many compounds and may have some
that will affect the fetus or cause uterine contractions, bleeding, premature
birth and even miscarriage, bitter melon does not seem to be recommended in the
diet. pregnant women's diet. However, this still needs to be studied further
before conclusions can be drawn.
Therefore, pregnant women should be considered and consulted
with a doctor before choosing to use bitter melon.
Suffering from some other illness
If you have a health problem, talk to your doctor
before choosing foods to avoid making the condition worse, or affecting the
effectiveness of the medication you are taking. use.
For example:
Bitter melon has an impact on blood sugar, so it will affect your health if you
are taking blood sugar-lowering drugs.
5. How to choose and buy delicious bitter melon
To absorb optimal nutrients from bitter melon, you
should also pay attention to choosing fresh and delicious bitter melon by
applying some tips that AnCu Life suggests below:
Should choose bitter melon with tiny veins as much as
possible, the fruit is safer, not abused chemicals and fertilizers. Because
with the bitter melon fruit has a bulging body, shiny skin and dark green
color, often used stimulants to develop.
In addition, you should also choose bitter melons that
have an outer skin that is not scratched or crushed. The grip feels firm, not
soft, mushy and the outside color is even.
You should give priority to buying bitter melon at
supermarkets or reputable stores, with clear product origins to ensure health.
At the same time, when preliminary processing, it is necessary to soak in
diluted salt water for 15 minutes and rinse with clean water 2-3 times to
reduce dirt and pesticides.
6. Attractive dishes from bitter melon
After knowing the nutritional value and how to choose
delicious bitter melon, go to the kitchen to immediately make attractive dishes
for your family from this fruit! Such as:
Stuffed bitter melon
This is a familiar soup on the rice tray of Vietnamese
families. The meat filling is stuffed inside the bitter gourd fruit, which
looks very attractive with the sweet and fragrant broth from pork bones. The rich,
lumpy flesh of the black fungus is mixed with the smooth and bitter taste of
the melon fruit.
Bitter gourd with chili peppers
Bitter gourd with chili is an attractive soup with many
ingredients, you can eat it alone or use it with bread, instant noodles. The
rich meat flavor combined with the bitter taste of melon and the fatty panther
of quail eggs, brings an indescribable taste to you.
Bitter gourd salad - dried bitter melon salad
Dried fish bitter melon salad seems difficult to eat, but you can apply some tips to reduce the bitterness of bitter melon in the way that AnCu Life suggests below. Therefore, the dish has a slight bitter, crispy taste of bitter melon mixed with the salty taste of dried fish, especially the fat of mayonnaise.
0 Comments