Bitter Melon Tea

Momordica Charantia is known as bitter melon in English. It is a climbing vine which bears green fruits. It is sometimes also referred to as 'bitter gourd'. Bitter melon is a common food item in Asia, Middle East as well as South America. The leaves as well as the fruits are used to make bitter melon tea. There are many known benefits of tea made from this bitter fruit or the bitter leaves of this plant.

How to Make your own Bitter Melon Tea
If you are using leaves to make the tea, you will have to dry the leaves thoroughly over a course of several days to a week. When the leaves have dried, pack them in an air-tight container. The fruit can either be added fresh after washing thoroughly or can be dehydrated before use. To make the tea, you can make use of this recipe.

• Wash and chop the leaves fine to get about 6 tablespoons of leaves.
• Add the chopped leaves to 2 glasses of water.
• Boil the tea for about 15 minutes, uncovered, in a pot.
• Let the tea cool down and strain the leaves.
• You can divide the entire quantity of the tea into 3 parts and drink it thrice a day.

Bitter Melon Tea Benefits
There are a number of benefits of this tea. Let's see what they are.

• Tea made with bitter melon to treat diabetes has been used in Asian traditional medicines for a very long time. According to latest research, consumption of bitter melon increases insulin sensitivity.
• Another important benefit is that it stimulates digestion. Hence, people who suffer from sluggish digestion, dyspepsia and constipation are recommended to consume this tea. However, it can worsen heartburn and ulcer problems.
• Bitter melon has been used to prevent and treat malaria since olden times. Research also supports this fact as anti-malarial properties have been found in these melons.
• Research points to the fact that the compounds found in bitter melon may be helpful in treating HIV/AIDS infection as well.
• According to one research, bitter melon is said to improve cell function in people suffering from cancer but this needs to be verified with another ongoing research on the same topic.
• The compounds present in bitter melon are useful in regulating metabolism and enabling glucose uptake.
• The fruits and leaves of bitter melon are said to be a good source of minerals and vitamins such as iron, calcium, phosphorus and Vitamin B. However, research is underway to find out how much nutritional contents are, and can actually be, absorbed by the body's digestive system as there are some substances which are not in absorbable form.
• According to some research, bitter melon leaves extracts are also known to shrinks hemorrhoids.
• The leaves can be used to prevent and lessen cough and fever.
• An effective treatment against roundworms is said to be bitter melon leaves extracts.
• Some researches point to the fact that bitter melon can be useful in treating sterility in women as well as alleviate liver problems.
• Infected wounds can be treated with bitter melon as it has antimicrobial properties.

Although there are a number of benefits of this bitter-tasting tea, research is being carried out on the same to ascertain the claims made by the previous results. At the same time, not much has been found out about its side effects. Hence, if you do want to start taking tea made with bitter melon, it is always good to do so with the advice of the doctor.