Bitter gourd or Bitter melon belongs to Cucurbitaceae family and its plant has a botanical name Momordica Charantia. This plant is a climber bares oblong shaped fruits. These fruits are very bitter to taste.

Bitter gourd is known as Karela in hindi and is a very popular vegetable of Indian house hold. This vegetable is known by various names in regional languages of India. It is ‘Kakarakaya‘ in Telugu, ‘Pavakkai‘ in Tamil, ‘Pavakka‘ in Malayalam, ‘Hagalkai‘ in Kannada, ‘Karela‘ in Gujarati, ‘Karle‘ in Marathi, and ‘Korola‘ in Bengali. Texts of Ayurveda refer this vegetable as Karavellaka.

Ayurvedic Properties of bitter gourd / melon

Texts of Ayurveda describe properties of this fruit as follows.

It is very bitter (tikta rasa) to taste and is light to digest. On consumption of this vegetable the moistness of tissues get absorbed and leave them dry. Hence drinking good amount of water is very essential when you consume this vegetable. It has hot potency.

Ayurveda Health Benefits of Bitter gourd

Bitter gourd is used as remedy for various health conditions. Ancient texts of Ayurveda explain it as follows.

Bitter melon normalises Kapha and pitta. It does not allow vata to get vitiated.

Effect on digestive system: This fruit enhances secretion of digestive juices and sets right digestion. It improves appetite and removes intestinal parasites.

Effect on skin diseases: Since bitter gourd acts as blood purifier, its use is recommended in skin diseases like psoriasis (check ayurvedic remedy for psoriasis), acne and pimples.

Effect on body fat: Karela acts as a drying agent. It dries up fat tissues and boosts fat metabolism. This vegetable and its plant parts suppress appetite. With these two qualities it acts as an excellent weight loss herb.  (Check Ayurvedic Weight Loss Remedy)

Effect on blood Sugar level: Ayurveda acharyas recommend Karavellaka or bitter melon in diabetes. It effectively controls blood sugar level. (Check Ayurvedic remedies for diabetes)

Effect on Male Sexual Health: Bitter melon controls two major conditions which cause erectile dysfunction in men. It improves diabetes and helps in weight loss. Hence it is very useful in conditions like erectile dysfunction in diabetes and erectile dysfunction due to obesity.

Effect on Female infertility: Texts of Ayurveda recommend this fruit to regularise menstrual cycle and also purify breast milk. Bitter melon helps in pcod or pcos by improving insulin sensitivity of cells. It also aids in weight loss and improves female fertility. Hence this fruit is used as main ingredient in PCORID Capsules an ayurvedic treatment for PCOD or PCOS. PCORID capsules when taken along with UTONORM capsules helps to get rid off PCOD and improves female fertility.Click Here For Ayurvedic Treatment Kit for PCOS