Momordica charantia (Karela)
Momordica charantia (Karela)      Momordica charantia is a climbing perennial belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family. It grows in Asia, Africa and South America. The bitter fruit from this plant is used both as food and as medicine. The active principles in this plant are mainly curcubitanoids, charantin, momordicin and insulin-like peptide known as p(plant)-insulin. • Antidiabetic effect: In patients, raw juice from M. charantia lowered blood glucose within 60 minutes without any change in plasma insulin levels. In a mouse model of diabetes with no associated pancreatic ß-cell damage, there was no increase in blood glucose 1 hour after oral glucose tolerance test in mice treated with M. charantia extract. This effect seems to be dependent on the presence of healthy pancreatic ß-cells because in other experimental diabetes models in rat that damage the ß-cells, M. charantia did not show improvement in glucose levels. M. charantia showed antioxidant effect in vitro in isolated pancreatic islet cells and improved cell viability. Antidiabetic effect appears to be related to its ability to block glucose absorption from the intestine, increase glucose metabolism in skeletal muscle and cause beneficial structural changes in peripheral nerves and also its antioxidant effects. • Antilipemic effect: After 3-7 weeks of M. charantia supplementation, high-fat fed rats showed less accumulation of body fat in addition to lower blood glucose levels and hepatic triglycerides, but there was an increase in serum free fatty acids and epinephrine levels. This suggests that M. charantia causes increased lipolysis and modulates sympathetic nervous system responses, and may potentially be used to control body weight and blood glucose. Safety Profile      The toxic dose of the alcoholic extract was found to be >1g/Kg body weight in rats, where as sub-acute doses up to 100mg/Kg body weight caused beneficial changes in blood glucose and serum lipids in diabetic rats and minimal changes in normal rats. Herb Drug interactions      No drug interactions have been reported for this herb. Selected relevant published references • Alt. Med. Rev. 12(4): 360-363, 2007 • Chem. Pharm. Bull. 54(7): 1017-1021, 2006 • J Ethnopharmacol. 108: 236-242, 2006 • Brtish Med. J 282: 1823-1824,1981 • J Ethnopharmacol. 44: 117-121, 1994 • Mol. Cell Biochem. 13(29): 1-8, 2004 • British J Nutr. 93: 747-754, 2005 • British J Nutr 99: 806–812, 2008 • Also check http://kroger.naturalstandard.com