Bitter gourd has powerful antioxidants and its importance for good health

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) has long been regarded as a food and medicinal plant. It is a powerful nutrient-dense plant composed of a complex array of beneficial compounds. These include phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which all contribute to its remarkable versatility in treating a wide range of illnesses. The fruits contain high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamins B1, B2 and B3, as well as vitamin B9 (folate). Medicinal value of bitter melon has been attributed to its high antioxidant properties due in part to phenols, flavonoids, isoflavones, terpens, anthroquinones, and glucosinolates, all of which confer a bitter taste. Antioxidant in plants also includes vitamin C, vitamin E, phenolic acid and flavonide. Phytochemicals, particularly antioxidant from natural sources such as fruit, vegetable and herbs have gained popularity now a day due to their protective properties against several chronic and cardiovascular diseases. Natural antioxidants in bitter gourd are primarily plant phenols and polyphenolic compounds, which is a diverse class of chemical compounds that share the ability to act as chain breaking antioxidants and proposed to protect against the damage caused by free radicals to DNA, cell membrane and cell components. These polyphenols have received much attention among the natural compounds extracted from plants, due to their powerful antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiviral activities as well as their capacity to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells,protect neuron against oxidative stress, simulative vasodilation, reduce vascularisation and improve insulin secretion.

Antioxidant and its benefits:
Antioxidants come up frequently in discussion about good health and preventing disease. Antioxidants are the substance that reduces damage due to oxygen, such as that caused by free radicals. Well-known antioxidants include enzymes and other substances, such as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene, which are capable of counteracting the damaging effect of oxidation. Antioxidants may possibly slow the progression of age-related muscular degeneration. These powerful substances which mostly come from the fresh fruit and vegetables we eat, prohibit (and in some case even prevent), the oxidation of another molecule in the body. The benefits of antioxidants are very important to good health, because if free radical are left unchallenged. They can cause a wide range of illness and chronic disease.