Karela (Bitter Gourd) can Beat Breast Cancer

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Bitter gourd extract, a common dietary supplement, exerts a significant effect against breast cancer cell growth and may eventually become a chemopreventive agent against breast cancer, according to a recent study.
“Our findings suggest that bitter gourd extract modulates several signal pathways that induces breast cancer cell death,” said researcher Ratna Ray, professor in Department of Pathology at Saint Louis University. “This extract can be utilised as a dietary supplement for the prevention of breast cancer.”
Results of this study are published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
    Previous research has shown Momordica charantia, also known as bitter gourd and bitter melon, to have hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects, according to Ray. Because of these effects, the extract is commonly used in folk medicines as a remedy for diabetes in locales such as India, China and Central America, according to the researchers.
    Using human breast cancer cells and primary human mammary epithelial cells in a lab, Ray and colleagues found the mechanism of bitter melon extract significantly decreased proliferation, that is, cell growth and division, and induced death in breast cancer cells. These early results offer an encouraging path for research into breast cancer.
    “Breast cancer is a major killer among women around the world, and in that perspective, results from this study are quite significant,” said Rajesh Agarwal, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado, Denver School of Pharmacy.
“This study may provide us with one more agent that could be used against breast cancer if additional studies hold true.” According to Agarwal, the Cancer Research associate editor for this study, the simple design, clear-cut results and the importance of these findings in breast cancer prevention makes this different from previous research. 

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