4. Conclusion
The present study demonstrated that acetone was the best
of five solvents, including water, for extracting flavonoids
from bitter melon. The conditions for the aqueous
extraction of flavonoids from bitter melon were optimised
and determined to be two extractions of the same
material at 40˚C for 15 min at a ratio of 100:1 mL/g of
bitter melon powder. However, after optimisation, the
content of flavonoids in the aqueous extract was stillmuch less (only 5.4%) than in the acetone extract. Furthermore,
using acetone, it was shown that the Moonlight
variety bought at a local market had a higher content of
flavonoids compared to five other greenhouse-grown bitter
melon varieties.