Bitter gourd is a functional vegetable with beneficial effects on health

Kidney disease

Bitter gourd is a popular vegetable in some Asian countries, where the health benefits of the plant are well-known—particularly, its ability to lower blood glucose in diabetics. Bitter gourd has been used to treat diabetes in traditional medicine and is now commercially available as tea (from fruits or leaves), juice, extracts, and pills. Although these products promise health benefits, most of the manufacturers do not offer scientifically proven data on the effectiveness of bitter gourd or their products. However, in recent years researchers worldwide have started to focus on the antidiabetic effects of bitter gourd. The goal is to provide safe and clear preparation and dosage recommendations so that consumers will realize the greatest benefit from consuming fresh bitter gourd or bitter gourd products.
It is scientifically proven: bitter gourd lowers blood glucose levels!

In the first place, we should know that patients with kidney disease should limit intake of bitter gourd in daily life, the below is reasons:


1. Phosphorus

Deposition of phosphorus is very common for patients with kidney disease. And bitter gourd contains phosphorus, so eating much bitter gourd can put more pressure on kidney, affecting kidney function.

2. Much potassium

There are much potassium in bitter gourd. For patients with kidney disease, they are very prone to high potassium in body, so much intake of potassium can make deposition of potassium worse, affecting kidney function.


3. Protein

There are also some protein in bitter gourd, which can produce urea when decomposed in body. And urea is a waste, which can make kidney carry more burdens.

4. Sodium

Sodium can contribute to elevation of blood pressure, and high blood pressure is very common for patients with kidney disease. In this way, much bitter gourd can do harm to patients with kidney disease.

Bitter gourd treatments of cell cultures or feeding trials with laboratory animals such as mice or rats show bitter gourd does have blood glucose lowering properties. Bitter gourd is not like most medicinal drugs, which are effective only in one target organ or tissue; rather, it influences glucose metabolism all over the body.
Bitter gourd lowers dietary carbohydrate digestion

Bitter gourd can play a role in the prevention and treatment of Type II diabetes, which is also called insulin-independent diabetes or adult onset diabetes. This form of the disease usually occurs in people who are overweight and inactive. In Type II diabetes, the liver, skeletal muscle, and fat tissues do not respond adequately to insulin—they are “insulin resistant.” Feeding trials with insulin resistant or Type II diabetic rats and mice have shown that bitter gourd helps to prevent or reverse insulin resistance (Nerurkar et al. 2008, Klomann et al. 2010). People with insulin resistance or those with a high risk of developing Type II diabetes have a good chance to prevent and treat the disease without drugs by increasing their physical activity and changing their diet.
Bitter gourd prevents diabetic complications

Being overweight is one of the most important risk factors for diabetes and other diseases, and Type II diabetes is often accompanied by hypertension, high plasma cholesterol, or high plasma lipids. Together, these conditions increase the risk of stroke or heart attack. For overweight Type II diabetic patients, bitter gourd can help to improve health. In mice and rats, bitter gourd has been shown to reduce hypertension (Singh et al. 2004), plasma cholesterol (Nerurkar et al. 2008), and plasma lipids (Nerurkar et al. 2008). Apart from this, bitter gourd helps weight loss. There is also evidence that bitter gourd might be effective in cancer treatment.
More bitter gourd does not help more. Please be careful!

Exclusive consumption of bitter gourd, bitter gourd juice, or other bitter gourd products can lead to dangerous hypoglycemia when consumed by diabetic patients under oral drug treatment, in too high dosages, by children, or on a hungry stomach. Pregnant or breastfeeding woman should not consume bitter gourd or bitter gourd products.

If you want to know more diet about kidney disease, please talk with our online doctors, or email us to sjzhospitalrenal@hotmail.com. It is a great honor that we can do you a favor.