Plants and herbal preparations have been used as medicine throughout the world since ancient times. Most plants contain a diverse range of bioactive compounds and provide a multitude of health benefits. Momordica charantia L., also known as bitter melon, belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. This vegetable has potential health-promoting and nutritional properties, and currently, this vegetable is widely consumed as a healthy vegetable in several countries. Numerous bioactive compounds have been isolated from the various plant parts of the bitter gourd, including leaves, stems, roots, fruits, and veins. Bioactive compounds, including proteins, polysaccharides, flavonoids, triterpenes, saponins, ascorbic acid, and steroids, have shown promising potent biological activities. In recent years, bitter melon has been used to treat different diseases, mainly diabetes, and related conditions. Additionally, various extracts demonstrated a significant anticancer and antitumor activity, glucose reducing effect, and AMP-activated protein kinase activities. In our previous study, we isolated 17 compounds from the Chinese cultivar of M.charantia, including two novels compounds, and structures of the purified compounds were elucidated by HR-ESIMS, 1D, and 2D NMR experiments. Additionally, isolated compounds were evaluated for in vitro antidiabetic and antiinflammatory activities, where compounds showed significant biological activities. However, most reported studies on bitter melon bioactive compounds were performed on cell lines and animal models. A limited number of clinical and pre-clinical studies have been documented on the antidiabetic and hypoglycemic effects of M. charantia through various postulated mechanisms. This review addresses a comprehensive overview of our previous research work and phytochemistry. It also discusses their pharmacological activities and their adverse effects, aimed at providing and biological activities of M. charantia.

Bitter melon (Momordica charantia): An exotic vegetable with a treasure of health-promoting compounds

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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