The botanical supplement that comes from this exotic looking fruit has been proven to help diabetics and prediabetics. Now the evidence is even stronger.
Bitter melon is an exciting herb for treating diabetes. It contains a component that has been shown to reduce blood sugar like insulin but without any of insulin’s side effects.
This new study tried bitter melon out on 75 people with prediabetes. They were given either 300mg a day of bitter melon extract, 600mg a day of bitter melon extract or were placed in a control group. The double-blind study lasted 12 weeks.
At the end of the 12 weeks, fasting blood glucose went up by 11% in the control group. But it went up by only 3.35% in the low dose bitter melon group and by an even more impressive 1.05% in the high dose bitter melon group. That benefit is significant.
In older people, HbA1c, the most important marker of long term diabetes and blood sugar control, went down significantly more.
This study adds to the evidence for bitter melon as a diabetes herb. Specifically, in this study, bitter melon was shown to benefit people with prediabetes.
J Am Nutr Assoc. 2025 May-Jun;44(4):306-314.