The efficacy, nutritional value and therapeutic value of bitter melon

Bitter melon tastes bitter, and people in the south mostly eat it as a vegetable. Bitter melon can be eaten in summer and autumn, and is used as a side dish with jasmine. It tastes delicious and does not taste bitter.

Nutritional value of bitter melon

Bitter melon is an annual climbing herbaceous plant of the Cucurbitaceae family. Its fruit is edible and has high nutritional value. It contains a variety of nutrients and is rich in vitamin B1. It can prevent and treat beriberi, maintain normal heart function, promote milk secretion and increase appetite. The vitamin C contained in bitter melon is 10 to 20 times that of cucumber and loofah. It can prevent scurvy, protect cell membranes, detoxify, prevent atherosclerosis, fight cancer, improve the body's stress capacity, prevent colds, and protect the heart. Bitter melon contains a substance similar to insulin - polypeptide-P, which has a more obvious effect on lowering blood sugar than bensulfuronamide, a drug for treating diabetes. Bitter melon also contains a protein lipid substance that can stimulate and enhance the ability of immune cells in animals to engulf cancer cells. It can play an anti-cancer role in the body together with quinine in alkaloids.

Benefits of Bitter Melon

According to traditional Chinese medicine, bitter melon has the effects of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, nourishing blood and replenishing qi, tonifying the kidney and spleen, nourishing the liver and improving eyesight, and has a certain effect on treating dysentery, sores, fever, thirst, heatstroke, excessive prickly heat, conjunctivitis, short and red urine, etc. Because bitter melon is cold in nature, people with weak spleen and stomach should not eat too much.

Bitter melon is cool in nature, refreshing and not greasy. Eating it in summer can make you feel cool and comfortable, and it has the effect of refreshing the mind and stimulating the appetite. Although bitter melon is bitter, it will never pass on the bitterness to "others". For example, when using bitter melon to cook or stew fish, the fish will never be stained with bitterness, so bitter melon is also known as "gentleman's dish". If bitter melon is brewed into herbal tea and drunk in summer, it can make people feel refreshed and relieve thirst.

1. Promote diet, reduce inflammation and reduce fever:

The bitter glycosides and bitter substances in bitter melon can increase appetite, strengthen the spleen and stimulate the appetite; the alkaloid substance quinine contained in bitter melon has the effects of diuresis, blood circulation, anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing, and clearing the mind and improving eyesight;

2. Anti-cancer and anti-cancer:

The protein components and a large amount of vitamin C in bitter melon can enhance the body's immune function and enable immune cells to kill cancer cells; bitter melon juice contains a certain protein component that can enhance macrophage ability and is clinically effective against lymphosarcoma and leukemia; the trypsin inhibitor extracted from bitter melon seeds can inhibit the protease secreted by cancer cells and prevent the growth of malignant tumors;

3. Lower blood sugar:

Bitter melon is bitter, and the bitter taste is hard to swallow, but did you know that one bitter melon contains 0.4% of the precious weight loss ingredient as valuable as gold - high-energy lipolysis factor. Eat a few bitter melons a day, and you will not gain weight no matter how much you eat or sleep.

The therapeutic value of bitter melon

Bitter melon is bitter, non-toxic, cold in nature, and enters the heart, liver, spleen, and lung meridians;

It has the effects of clearing away heat and summer heat, improving eyesight and detoxifying, promoting diuresis and cooling blood, relieving fatigue and clearing the mind, and invigorating qi and strengthening yang;

It is mainly used to treat heatstroke, summer heat and thirst, summer boils, excessive prickly heat, red and swollen eyes, carbuncles and erysipelas, burns and scalds, oliguria and other diseases.

Bitter melon contains protein, carbohydrates, magnesium, calcium, multiple amino acids, momordica charantia, momordica charantia protein, selenium, zinc, vitamin C, potassium, carotene and other ingredients.

Bitter melon contains pectin, which can lower the concentration of cholesterol in the blood and prevent fat accumulation.

This ingredient can also combine with other cholesterol-lowering substances such as vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, manganese, selenium, etc. to form new compounds, thereby enhancing the lipid-lowering effect.

Pharmacological and nutritional studies have shown that bitter melon is rich in the "seventh type" of nutrients - dietary fiber. Dietary fiber can speed up the frequency of intestinal peristalsis and accelerate the excretion of intestinal contents. Dietary fiber can reduce the heat production of food, slow down the absorption of food, and easily produce a feeling of fullness, so it also has an inhibitory effect on obesity.

In recent years, studies have also found that bitter melon can lower blood sugar and blood pressure, prevent and fight cancer, lose weight, and relieve constipation.

Modern medical research believes that bitter melon is cold in nature and bitter in taste. It has the effects of clearing away heat, stimulating appetite, detoxifying and improving eyesight. It is suitable for treating irritability, heatstroke, bad breath, fever, thirst, dysentery, red eye pain, various cancers, etc.

Precautions

Bitter melon is cold in nature, so people with weak spleen and stomach should not eat it. Bitter melon contains quinine, which can stimulate uterine contraction and cause miscarriage. Pregnant women should be careful when eating it!

Suitable for people

It can be eaten by the general public.

1. Suitable for patients with diabetes, cancer and prickly heat

2. Bitter melon is cold in nature and should not be eaten by people with weak spleen and stomach.

Cooking Instructions

1. Don't eat too much at one time.

2. Boil bitter melon in water and scrub the skin to clear away heat, relieve itching and eliminate prickly heat.

3. Although bitter melon is bitter, the bitterness will not seep into other ingredients when paired with other ingredients, and is called a "gentleman's dish" by people.

1. Stir-fried bitter melon

2. Bitter Melon and Mung Bean Soup

3. How to make fish-flavored bitter melon

raw material:

2-3 bitter melons, a piece of ginger, some red dried peppers, a few cloves of garlic, 2 spoons of bean paste, a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of starch, add water to thicken, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, MSG, sesame oil.

practice:

1. Wash the bitter gourd, cut it in half, remove the pulp and cut it into thin strips for later use.

2. Cut the ginger into thin strips, smash the garlic into minced garlic, soak the dried pepper in hot water and cut into thin strips, add starch and water for later use.

3. Put the chopped bitter gourd into a pot of boiling water and blanch it thoroughly. Make sure to use high heat and cook until the water boils.

4. Stir-fried bitter melon and green pepper

Material:

400g bitter melon, 100g green pepper, 10g shredded ginger, 15g sliced ​​garlic, 15g shallot, some salt, 1 teaspoon (5ml) soy sauce, 2 teaspoons (10g) sugar, 2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil, a small amount of MSG

practice:

1. Wash the bitter melon, cut it in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, and cut it into strips or thick slices at an angle. Remove the stems of the green peppers, wash them, and cut them at an angle. Wash the chives and cut them into segments of the same length as the bitter melon.

2. Put the sleeves in the wok and fry the bitter melon and green pepper separately over low heat to remove the moisture. When the bitter melon and green pepper lose moisture and turn white with burnt spots on the surface, serve.

3. Wash the pan, heat it, add oil, add shredded ginger, garlic slices, and scallions and sauté until fragrant

4. Add green pepper and bitter gourd and stir-fry

5. Add salt, soy sauce, sugar and MSG and stir well.

Tips:

Bitter melon: bitter in taste, cold in nature. It has the effects of clearing away heat and removing heart fire, detoxifying, improving eyesight, replenishing qi and essence, quenching thirst and relieving heat, and treating carbuncle. Modern medicine has also found that bitter melon has the effects of preventing cancer and lowering blood sugar.

In addition, eating bitter melon raw also has the special effect of weight loss, because bitter melon contains high-energy lipolytic factors that have special effects on weight loss. However, bitter melon is cold in nature, so people with weak spleen and stomach are not suitable for eating bitter melon raw.

The fresh juice of bitter melon contains momordica glycosides and insulin-like substances, which has a good effect in lowering blood sugar and is an ideal food for diabetic patients.