Bitter Melon Juice Prevents Pancreatic Cancer: Study

Bitter melon juice is one of the natural approaches many people adapt to control and manage their diabetes. The same juice is highly beneficial for destroying pancreatic cancer cells, researchers have found.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver suggest that bitter melon juice limits the capacity of the pancreatic cancer cells to metabolize glucose, thereby cutting the energy source of the cells and finally destroying them.  

The study was conducted by Rajesh Agarwal, a co-program leader of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CU Cancer Center and professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. 

"Three years ago researchers showed the effect of bitter melon extract on breast cancer cells only in a Petri dish. This study goes much, much farther," Agarwal said in a press statement.

He continues to say that they used the juice to explain the fact that it influences the glucose metabolism pathway to limit energy and destroy pancreatic cancer cells.

The pancreas, which is a large organ, makes and releases enzymes into the intestine that helps the body to absorb foods, especially fat. Insulin and glucagon that control blood sugar level are made in special cells present in the pancreas known as islet cells. What exactly causes pancreatic cancer is still a mystery, but it is common in people with diabetes as well as smokers.

Reports according to Medical Daily suggest that, yearly there are nearly 45,220 new cases and about 38,460 deaths in the U.S.

Diabetes is a warning of pancreatic cancer. Type II diabetes can be cured with bitter melon juice. Following this, the researchers directly traced an association between bitter melon juice and pancreatic cancer.

The results of the study indicate that modification in the metabolic process in the pancreatic cells and the activation of the enzyme AMP activated protein kinase, shows low energy levels in the cells.

Apart from this, bitter melon juice also controls the insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells. They showed how, on feeding bitter melon juice to the mouse models with pancreatic cancer, the chances of developing the disease drops by 60 percent.