A ‘Bitter’ Pill Worth Swallowing

When the word “bitter” is associated with anything – be it bitter lettuce or bitter ice cream – it doesn’t exactly induce mouth-watering. After all, anything bitter tastes, well, bad. Perhaps that’s why you can’t find bitter melon in your local supermarket’s produce aisle.

If you go to China, though, bitter melons are as common to the produce aisle as cucumbers are here in the States.

Speaking of cucumbers, bitter melons look a lot like cucumbers – they’re long, cylindrical and green with vein like features covering its outer surface. Its texture is also similar to the cucumber. And depending on how ripe it is, its inside is either white (unripe) or red (ripe).

As the word bitter indicates, the melon itself does tend to be bitter, but similar to its interior, how bitter it is depends on when it’s eaten and what’s added to it to diminish its sometimes offensive taste (salt is said to reduce its bitterness).

So why do I mention this melon if it’s so rarely available here in the States? Well, while the fruit itself is hard to find, the bitter melon supplement is easy to find. And based on the latest study regarding bitter melon’s effectiveness in treating type II diabetes, you’re going to want to add bitter melon to your daily dose of drugs (“drugs” as in vitamin and herbal supplements, of course).

Bitter melon has long been known to be an effective treatment against diabetes (doesn’t it seem like the Chinese are always ahead of the rest of the world in medicinal discoveries?), its use dating back as far as the 16th century. Besides its efficacy in treating diabetes, it’s also been documented as effective treatment in maintaining weight loss and aiding in digestion.

Researchers believe the key component in bitter melon that makes it such a medical marvel is a chemical called AMPK, or activated protein kinase. AMPK packs a particularly potent punch in helping the body transport glucose to the muscles in the body for use as energy.

The researchers from Australia’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research discovered four different compounds in the bitter melon that appear to stimulate AMPK, this after literally squeezing the pulp and juices out of 2,000 pounds of bitter melons. When the researchers fed bitter melon to a group of lab rats, the bitter melon-fed rats’ saw a greater reduction in their blood glucose levels compared to those rats that did not consume the bitter melon. In fact, the bitter melon was so effective in removing excess amounts of glucose from the bloodstream that it virtually mirrored the effects exercise has in activating AMPK. And as we all know, exercise is highly recommended for people suffering from diabetes.

Diabetes is a subject close to my heart. I’ve written extensively on the topic and have devoted an entire book to helping people battle it and avoid it (“The Blood Pressure Miracle” which will be available in paperback in October 2008). Supplementing with bitter melon is just another alternative method one can take in not becoming among the 20 million afflicted with diabetes in the U.S. alone, and the 171 million diabetes diagnoses in the world. Look for bitter melon at your local natural health store.