Volume 4, Issue 1, January–March 2014, Pages 15–21
Review
Nutraceutical applications of gourd family vegetables: Benincasa hispida, Lagenaria siceraria and Momordica charantia
Abstract
The
use of food and food products as medicine has been in practice over
centuries in many civilizations. The extracts from the family
Cucurbitaceae have been used in the preparation of medicines for a
variety of diseases in Ayurveda and ancient Chinese medicine. The
article focuses on medicinal properties of extracts derived from
different vegetative parts of three Cucurbitaceae species viz. ash gourd
(Benincasa hispida), bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and bitter gourd (Momordica charantia).
The competency of extracts derived from these plants using different
extraction solutions and techniques were tested against various
diseases. These plants were found to possess antioxidant activity,
analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity, central nervous system
activity, antihyperglycemic and antidiabetics, anti-hyperlipidemic
activity, antimicrobial activity and anthelmintic activity, cytotoxic
and anticancer activity, immunomodulatory effect, cardioprotective
effects, hepatoprotective activity, bronchospasm protective activity,
antidiarrheal activity, and diuretic activity.
Keywords
- Cucurbitaceae;
- Medicinal properties;
- Ash gourd;
- Bottle gourd;
- Bitter gourd
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+91 96 19 423 666; fax: +91 22 3361 1020.
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