Abstract
Bitter gourd has been traditionally used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine in many Asian countries. It is ranked first among cucurbits for its higher nutritive values like carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, minerals, and phytochemicals. More than 60 phytonutrients have been reported in bitter gourd, which are used to treat deadly diseases, mainly diabetes, cancer, and inflammation-associated problems. Bitter gourd fruits possess several medicinal and health-promoting properties such as antimutagenic, antiviral, antiulcerogenic, antitumor, anti-lipolytic, and hypoglycemic activities. The medicinal property of bitter gourd includes its high antioxidant activities due to the presence of phenols, flavonoids, isoflavones, glucosinolates, terpenes, anthraquinones, gallic acid, and caffeic acid, which can serve as an alternate to replace the synthetic antioxidants for improving food quality. The α- and β-momorcharin proteins of bitter gourd fruits have an inhibitory effect against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A series of processed products can enhance its consumption including juice, chips, rings, pickles, etc. which are healthier and palatable than raw fruits. In this chapter, nutritional value, medicinal importance, health-promoting phytochemicals of bitter gourd, and their mode of action are discussed in detail. This chapter would be helpful for consumers and producers to update themselves with current knowledge on bitter gourd for nutrition and health and for policymakers and researchers/bitter gourd geneticists and breeders to prepare a future road map of bitter gourd for enhancing phytochemicals and nutritional quality of the fruits.
Published Version
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