Benefits Of Bitter Gourd
Bitter Gourd
Bitter gourd is a tropical vegetable, which is cultivated mainly in the Asian and African countries. It is also known by the name of ‘Karela’ and has a rough, warty skin. As the name suggests, the vegetable is bitter in taste and has a skin that is dark green in color. Bitter gourd has been found to have great medicinal value.
Karela (Bitter Gourd)
The bitter melon or bitter gourd is the bitterest of all vegetables known to humankind, but it is also the most medicinally effective. In India, the bitter gourd is known as the karela. Its biological name is Momordica charantia.
Health Benefits Of Bittergourd
Bitter gourd predominantly grows in tropical areas, including parts of Asia, East Africa, the Caribbean, and South America, where it is used both as food as well as a medicine. The plant’s fruit truly lives up to its name, because it really tastes bitter. Although the seeds, leaves, and vines of this fruit have different uses, the fruit is considered as the safest and most predominantly used part of the plant in traditional herbal medicine.
Benefit Of Bitter Gourd
Bitter gourd is rich in iron, beta-carotene, and potassium. It can relieve constipation and improve circulation, thereby producing slimming effects on the body.
In case of piles, the fresh juice of bitter gourd is prescribed to the patient for positive results. (Three teaspoons of juice of the bitter Gourd leaves extracted each morning, added to a glassful of buttermilk and consumed on an empty stomach cures piles in around thirty days.
The herbaceous, tendril-bearing vine grows to 5 m. It bears simple, alternate leaves 4-12 cm across, with 3-7 deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears separate yellow male and female flowers.
Side Effects And Interactions
Excessive ingestion of bitter melon juice (several times more than the amount recommended above) may lead to diarrhea and abdominal pain. Consuming excessive amounts of the seeds may be linked with fever, headache, and coma. Pregnant women should not use bitter melon.
Both varieties have seeds that are white when unripe and that turn red when they are ripe. The vegetable-fruit turn reddish-orange when ripe and becomes even more bitter.Bitter gourd thrives in hot and humid climates, so are commonly found in Asian countries and South America.
