Diabetes mellitus has a high prevalence in Malaysia and is expected to rise in the future due to lifestyle changes. Thus, consumers are turning to alternative methods in the prevention and cure of the disease. The Momordica charantia has been studied for its anti-diabetic activity both in vitro and in vivo and is shown to be effective in inhibiting glucose absorption. Therefore, the MC is used as a main ingredient in the development of health beverages to offer alternatives for patients or the health conscious. The microbial quality of the product is examined to ensure the safety of the product and to find methods to enhance its shelf life

Chern, Pei Ern

Ghazali, Hazrina

Mahmud, Norkhaizur

Mahyudin, Nor Ainy

English

Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews (PJSRR - Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM)

PJSRR (2017) 3(3): 102-106 
eISSN: 2462-2028 © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 
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Anti-diabetic Activity and Microbial Quality of Ready-to-Serve 
Momordica charantia (MC) Drink 
Pei Ern, CHERN,a* Nor Ainy, MAHYUDIN,b Hazrina, GHAZALI,c 
Norkhaizura MAHMUD @ AB RASHIDd 
a,b,d
Food Safety Research Centre, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, 
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor. 
c
Department of Food Service & Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, 
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor. 
*chernpeiern@gmail.com 
 
Abstract - Diabetes mellitus has a high prevalence in Malaysia and is expected to rise in the future 
due to lifestyle changes. Thus, consumers are turning to alternative methods in the prevention and 
cure of the disease. The Momordica charantia has been studied for its anti-diabetic activity both in 
vitro and in vivo and is shown to be effective in inhibiting glucose absorption. Therefore, the MC is 
used as a main ingredient in the development of health beverages to offer alternatives for patients or 
the health conscious. The microbial quality of the product is examined to ensure the safety of the 
product and to find methods to enhance its shelf life. 
 
Keywords: α–glucosidase inhibitory activity, anti-diabetic activity, microbial quality, Momordica 
charantia (MC), ready-to-serve drink, shelf life 
 
 
Introduction 
The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is estimated to increase in many countries around the world due to 
changing lifestyles. In 2000, the prevalence was estimated to be 2.8% for all age groups worldwide 
and was expected to increase to 4.4% in 2030, which brings the total number of 171 million in 2000 to 
366 million in 2030 (Wild, et al., 2004; Han et al., 2009). A more recent study by Shaw, Sicree and 
Zimmet (2010) had estimated the numbers to be higher from 6.4% which affects 285 million people in 
2010 to 7.7% and 439 million people by 2030. Also in this study, Malaysia was listed asone of the top 
10 countries for diabetes prevalence which was 11.6% in 2010 and is expected to reach 13.8% by 
2030. According to a local study, it was expected that the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in Malaysia 
would exceed the world’s prevalence rate due to changes in demographic patterns, increased job 
opportunities and improved economy and changes in dietary habit (Zaini, 2000). According to the 
Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Ministry of Health Malaysia (2009), 48% of patients above 30 
years old are unaware they have diabetes. Management of the disease should start as early as detected 
to enable a person to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The diet plays an important role in the treatment of 
diabetes while medication is only given to certain patients. 
 
Many patients are now turning to alternative treatment besides medication and functional food is one 
of the things that people these days are seeking for. It is also a better approach to the prevention of 
diabetes as it is easily accessible and affordable. Studies also show that up to 30% of patients with 
diabetes mellitus was estimated to use alternative medicine (Ryan, Pick & Marceau, 2001). Habicht 
(2011) mentioned that the bitter gourd is being used in traditional medicine to treat diabetes due to its 
ability to lower blood glucose levels. Momordica charantia (MC), which is also known as the bitter 
gourd or bitter melon is well known for the treatment of diabetes-related conditions. It grows at 
tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Various studies had been carried out 
 
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in-vitro and in-vivo of the anti-diabetic effects of the MC and health products are developed using the 
MC as the main ingredient. 
 
In-Vitro Studies 
In-vitro studies of anti-diabetic activity are carried out using the alpha (α) glucosidase inhibitory 
activity screening. α –glucosidase inhibitors in the small intestine suppresses postprandial 
hyperglycemia by inhibiting the diegestion of carbohydrates (Matsuura et al., 2002). The α - 
glucosidase inhibitory activity assay performed by Mun’im et al. (2013) on the ethanolic extracts of 
MC showed that the fruits extracts showed no inhibitory activity, whereby the IC50 (ppm) is 1861.99. 
Contrary to this study, polypeptide-k and oil isolated from the MC seed demonstrated blood glucose 
level-reducing activity where its inhibition% is highest at 53.55% at concentration 2 mg/mL (Ahmad 
et al., 2012). Methanolic extracts of the seeds also exhibited α –glucosidase inhibitory activity 
(Matsuura et al., 2002). 
 
In cell culture studies, it was found that MC juice had a form of protection towards apoptosis in rat 
insulinoma (RIN) cells and may help in recovering or regenerating destroyed pancreatic β-cells 
(Krawinkel & Keding, 2006; Sitasawad, Shewade & Bhonde, 2000). 
 
In-Vivo Studies 
The in-vivo studies of anti-diabetic activity of the MC showed more prominent prove of its anti- 
diabetic activity as demonstrated by Virdi et al. (2003) Diabetic induced rats divided into three 
categories were fed with MC extracts of water, methanol and chloroform at a dosage of 20 mg/kg 
body weight. There was a significant reduction in blood glucose for the methanolic extract and 
constant activity for the water extract after a duration of four weeks. However, there was no 
antihyperglycemic activity for the chloroform extract. 
 
In the investigation of suppressing gluconeogenesis, the ethanolic extract of MC inhibited hepatic 
gluconeogenesis enzymes fructose-1, 6-biphosphatase and glucose-6-phosphate (Chowdhury et al., 
2012). The seeds extracts orally fed to streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats showed a decrease 
in plasma glucose, thio-barbituric acid-reactive substances, lipid-hydroperoxides, alpha-tocopherol, at 
the same time increased level of ascorbic acid, reduced glutathione and insulin (Sathishsekar and 
Subramanian, 2005). 1, 10 and 50% juice concentration of MC orally fed to mice did not show any 
activity in normal mice but STZ-induced diabetic mice showed significant lowering of hyperglycemia 
when fed with MC juice of 50% for 5 days compared to unfed diabetic mice (Sitasawad, Shewade & 
Bhonde, 2000). 
 
When performed using butanol-soluble fraction (saponin fraction) of MC and its water-soluble 
fraction, inhibitory activity against disaccharides the water-soluble fraction showed 5 times more 
inhibition rate at IC50 5.5 mg/ml compared to the butanol-soluble fraction at IC50 1.0 mg/ml (Oishi et 
al., 2007). In an experiment investigating glucose reduction level hourly, it was showed that despite  
an initial increase in fasting blood glucose (FBG) in the first hour, a significant reduction was 
observed at the second hour using a methanolic extract of MC. Both concentration of 125mg/kg and 
375mg/kg reached the same maximum percentage reduction after 12 hours (Nkambo, Anyama & 
Onegi, 2013). 
 
Development of MC in Drinks 
Satkar, Kulthe and Chalke (2013) prepared a ready-to-serve MC beverage using the MC juice 
extracted from a pulper and filtered through muslin cloth. Cane sugar and citric acid was added to 
adjust the total soluble solids (TSS) and acidity. The beverage was stored for 90 days at room 
temperature and refrigerated temperature. They had concluded that the TSS had increased during the 
storage period while the acidity had decreased which may be due to chemical interactions and 
enzymatic activity. The sensory score decreased over the storage period because of changes in colour, 
flavour and taste. 
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Another development of beverage using the MC by Din et al. (2011) used different concentrations of 
the MC and adding of artificial sweetener. The beverage was stored for 6 weeks and was analysed for 
its pH, colour, ascorbic acid and sensory properties. Similar to the previous study, the pH of the 
beverage increased during the storage period and there was a decline in its sensory attributes due to 
the increased pH and colour changes caused by possible Maillard reaction. There was also a 
significant loss in ascorbic acid during storage which decrease is most probably due to storage 
temperature, oxidative enzymes and atmospheric oxygen in head space. 
 
Dietetic soft drinks were also subsequently being formulated using its crude polysaccharides as done 
by Aziz et al. (2011) Different amount of MC slices were added with sweeteners, citric acid, water 
and was boiled before filtration and homogenisation to obtain the beverage. It was determined that for 
this formulation 7.5% concentration of MC was well accepted but further studies are needed to study 
its effectiveness towards its anti-diabetic properties. The shelf life of the beverage was not being 
evaluated in this study. 
 
Microbial Quality 
The microbial quality of drinks are evaluated in order to ensure safe consumption and to evaluate its 
shelf life. The MC plant itself contains antibacterial activity which is a possible contributor to the 
extended shelf life in the development of the MC drink. When tested with major foodborne pathogens 
such as E. coli, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Salmonella and Streptobacillus, the water, ethanol and 
methanol extracts of the MC pulp and skin were found to be contain antibacterial activity against the 
pathogens (Saeed & Tariq, 2005). 
 
Further microbiological analysis on drinks are necessary in ensuring the drink is free from 
contamination. Methods that are commonly used in microbiological analyses of drinks include the 
Total Plate Count (TPC), Most Probable Number (MPN) for coliform determination, E. coli 
confirmation and enumeration of yeast and moulds. TPC is considered as an important factor in 
accessing quality and safety of food in determining its total viable cell count (Solis et al., 2009). 
Coliform determination and confirmation for E. coli depicts the sanitary level of water, which is an 
important factor in drinks. Yeast spoilage is among the main spoilage factors for drinks due to high 
water activity (AW) (Battey, Duffy & Schaffner, 2002). 
 
Toxicity 
In animal studies the MC is demonstrated to be safe when ingested in low doses in a duration of 2 
months, but toxicity and death had been reported when administered in high doses (Grover & Yadav, 
2004). Several adverse effects of overconsumption of the MC are being reported, whereby children 
are reported to be sick after consuming the MC, and hypoglycemic coma and convulsions are 
observed also in children after drinking MC tea (Lucas et al., 2010). Headaches are also reported to 
happen after ingesting the MC seeds (Krawinkel & Keding, 2006). The MC had also been shown to 
have abortifacient activity traditionally and in experiment. Also, the fruit and seeds are found to have 
greater toxicity than other parts of the plant (Grover & Yadav, 2004). Marles and Farnsworth (1997) 
suggested that the toxicity of the MC in its seeds and outer rind acted as protein synthesis inhibitors in 
the intestinal cells, but the observations are not linked to clinical signs or symptoms. 
 
Conclusion 
Alternative methods besides medical solutions need to be implemented in countries with high 
prevalence of diabetes mellitus. The MC which have anti-diabetic activity can be used to develop into 
health products for consumers to help cope with their condition. Products such as beverages need to 
have more solid results of its efficacy in helping to lower blood glucose levels. The microbiological 
quality of the beverage has to be examined to ensure the safety of the product and at the same time to 
find methods to prolong the shelf life of the product. Studies also need to be done to explore the 
toxicity of the MC to prevent from leading to conditions due to over consumption. 
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Anti-diabetic Activity and Microbial Quality of Ready-to-Serve Momordica charantia (MC) Drink

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Anti-diabetic Activity and Microbial Quality of Ready-to-Serve Momordica charantia (MC) Drink

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