Kitchen remedy for diabetes gets potent nod from UM scientist

Sun2Surf: PETALING JAYA: The humble bittergourd, a popular vegetable, served in every Asian household - and touted as a kitchen-cure for diabetes by many a grandma has evoked the curiosity of a local scientist.
The gourd (Mormodica charantia), known locally as peria has over 100 compounds in it - and one or some of these chemicals possess a hypoglycaemic (blood-glucose lowering) effect.
Assoc Prof Dr Mustafa Ali Mohd of University Malaya's Faculty of Medicine (Pharmacology) spent about 18 months analysing the gourd with his team of four researchers.
He told the Sun recently that bittergourd can effect an insulin-like bioactivity in the mammalian pancreas.
"The extracts of the gourd have shown to reduce blood-glucose in overnight fasted laboratory mice loaded with glucose the previous day," said Mustafa.
He said the glucose-lowering effect of the crude plant extract was validated with glibenclamide - a common diabetic medication and the extracts were proven to have the same effect as the medication in both fasted and normal laboratory mice.
However, Mustafa was quick to caution that the plant extract is no cure for the metabolic disorder affecting an estimated 1.6 million Malaysians.
"It works the same way as standard diabetic medication, which only helps to control blood-glucose levels without eliciting a permanent cure," he said.
He said the significant glucose-lowering effect of the extract indicates that it may be used as a potential hypoglycaemic agent.
He also said the study revealed that the effect of the extract was dose-dependent.
"It was observed that the maximum effect was seen at the dose below 500 mg/kg and there was no parallel increase in the efficacy upon increasing the dosage."
"The potential benefits of the plant whether consumed as a juice or as cooked vegetable serves as a supplement to oral or insulin treatment of the condition," he said, adding that no matter what supplements they take, diabetics must monitor their blood-glucose levels regularly, take their medication, and live a healthy lifestyle.
Among its other medicinal values, the gourd, which belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family is also known to be a natural antibiotic.
It has also been documented to be an anti-inflammatory agent, anti-tumour and a powerful antioxidant by scientists elsewhere.
Mustafa, who also heads the Shimadzu-UMMC Centre for Xenobiotic Studies, said human trials on the plant extract will begin soon.