The bitter gourd is a common Vegetables cultivated extensively all over India. The Original home of bitter gourd is not known except that it is a native of the tropics. It is widely grown in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, china and the Caribbean.

There are two varities of this vegetable. The large kind is long and other kind is small. Both the types are bitter in taste.

Natural Benefits and Curative Properties

The bitter gourd is specifically used as a folk medicine for diabetes. Recent researches show that it contains a hypogly Caemic or insulin which has been found highly beneficial in lowering the blood and urine sugar levels. It should therefore, be included liberally in the diet of the diabetic.

Bitter gourd being rich in all the essential vitamins, minerals, and Iron, its regular use prevents many complications such as hypertension, eye complications, neuritis and defective metabolism of carbohydrates. It increase body's resistance against infection. Juice of the fresh leaves of bitter gourd is valuable in piles. Three teaspoonfuls of leaf juice mixed with a glassful of buttermilk should be taken every morning for about a month in this condition.

Bitter Gourd is highly beneficial in the treatment of blood disorders like blood boils, scabies, itching, psoriasis, ring worm and other fungal diseases. A cupful of fresh juice of bitter gourd mixed with a teaspoonful of lime juice should be taken, sip by sip, on empty stomach daily for 4 to 6 months in these conditions. Leaf juice is beneficial in the treatment of alcoholism. It is an antidote for alcohol intoxication. It is also useful in liver damage due to alcoholism.

Fresh juice of leaves of bitter gourd is also an effective medicine in early stages of cholera and other types of diarrhoea during summer. Two teaspoonfuls of this juice mixed with equal quantity of white onion juice and a teaspoonful of lime juice should be given in these conditions.

The bitter gourd is cooked and eaten as a vegetables in India and the far East. The bitterness is reduced by steeping the peeled fruit in salt water before cooking. It is also used in pickles and as ingredient of curries. The seeds of the ripe fruit are used as a condiment in India. The tender shoots and leaves are used as spinach.

(Compiled by Seema Ghildiyal)