BIOACTIVE COMPOUND AND NUTRITIOUS CHARACTERISTIC OF BITTER MELON FRUIT (MOMORDICA CHARANTIA L.)

Abstract

The bitter melon nutritious profile which was full of nutrition all contributed to flexibility towards curing some kind of diseases. The purpose of the research is to investigate nutritious composition of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.). The parameter used to detect was as follow: ash content, water content, crude protein, crude fat, total carbohydrate, pectin, dietary fiber, calcium, vitamin C, β-carotene, diosgenin, stigmasterol, campesterol and β-sitosterol. The reseach finding showed that the carbohidrate content by different method in the bitter melon was about 60.7-70.90 %. The most dominant dietary fiber content was soluble dietary fiber including19.2-21% pectin as wel as the most dominant phytochemical coumpound was β - sitosterol. Furthermore, crude protein content, crude fat, and ash from fresh bitter melon each was12.8-15.4%; 0.2-0.4%; 11.6-13.4%. Moreover, micro nutritious content such as calcium, vitamin C, and β-carotene each was 676.2-713.4 ppm;119.2-126.2 ppm and1.5-1.7 ppm. The existance of indigenous components made the bitter melon having high potential as one of the functional food sources.

Keywords

• Fresh bitter melon
• phytochemical compound
• nutrition
• functional food