Bitter melon’s blood sugar-lowering effect has attracted attention, and people of this type need to be cautious

Bitter melon contains hundreds of active substances and has unique effects. It can relieve the symptoms of patients with type Ⅰ and Ⅱ diabetes, and is also beneficial to the sugar metabolism of healthy people.

Diabetes is generally divided into four categories: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes and specific forms of diabetes. It is a chronic disease that gradually damages the heart, blood vessels, eyes, nerves and musculoskeletal system and is a leading cause of kidney failure and blindness.

In the pancreas of patients with type 1 diabetes, the beta cells responsible for producing insulin are damaged for various reasons, resulting in a decrease in their ability to secrete insulin. Because the body lacks insulin, patients with type 1 diabetes will have symptoms of high blood sugar and need to inject insulin into the body.

Patients with type 2 diabetes mainly have insulin resistance. Their pancreas can secrete insulin normally, but the body is not sensitive to insulin. Even if the insulin level is sufficient or even high, the cells cannot fully receive instructions to absorb sugar, so blood sugar cannot drop normally. Such patients generally need oral hypoglycemic drugs to lower blood sugar.

But in addition to the use of drugs, the management of diet and lifestyle is also an important part of the treatment of diabetes. People have also been working hard to find natural plants that are effective for diabetes.

Bitter melon is one of the most prominent plants among these.

Although bitter melon has a special bitter taste, it has multiple functions and more than 225 medicinal ingredients, and some characteristics of bitter melon may not be possessed by other vegetables.

The whole plant, especially the seeds and fruit, has been used for thousands of years. As a folk medicine, bitter melon has a wide range of uses, including toothache, diarrhea, deworming, boils, anti-malarial, laxative, abortion, and contraception. It has also been used to treat dysmenorrhea, eczema, gout, jaundice, leprosy, hemorrhoids, pneumonia, psoriasis, rheumatism, and scabies.

In addition to polysaccharides, proteins, peptides and lipids, bitter melon also contains triterpenes, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and sterols. The effects of these substances include anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, immune-enhancing and anti-diabetic.