In developing countries—all over the world—80% of population
continues to use traditional medicine in primary medical
problems. In the past decade, therefore, research has
been focused on scientific evaluation of traditional drugs of
plant origin. Momordica charantia (MC) is one such plant
that has been frequently used as medicine (Giron et al., 1991;
Lans and Brown, 1998).
MC, a climber belonging to family Cucurbitaceae, is commonly
known as bitter gourd or bitter melon in English and
karela in Hindi. Momordica means, “to bite”—referring to
the jagged edges of the leaf, which appear as if bitten. All
parts of the plant, including the fruit, taste bitter. The fruit
is oblong and resembles a small cucumber, young fruit is
emerald green that turns to orange-yellow when ripe.