Side effects of Indian bitter gourd

Side effects of Indian Bitter gourd: Indian bitter gourd consumed in different forms – curry, juice, sambar, chips etc. It is most popular vegetable with Diabetic patients. It has insulin like compounds in the form of charantin, peptides and alkaloids that brings down sugar level. It belongs to cucumber family.

• Can interact with medicines: Bitter gourd is good for diabetic patients in regulating sugar level. But, can interact with diabetic medicines.
• Irregular heart beat: It prevents clogging arteries. But at higher dosage can increase heart beat
• Stomach upset: Both in adults and children it can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting.
• Hypoglycemic coma: Consuming too much bitter gourd can result in danger of bringing blood sugar level very low and cause hypoglycemic coma,
• Inflammation of liver: Due to its bitterness, it can cause liver inflammation by increasing liver enzyme secretion (also known as atherosclerosis)
• Risk of favism: It can lead to anemia, headache, fever, and abdominal pain as it is not suitable for people who suffer from deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)
• In pregnant women it can induce bleeding, contractions, and miscarriage

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bitter_gourd.jpg

Tenbon / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) (Image modified to fit the slide)