Fight alcohol abuse through bitter gourd

Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: The simple karela or bitter gourd could soon emerge
as a natural antidote to fight alcoholism and drug abuse, and the
future medicine to treat HIV and AIDS.

City Unani doctors have successfully used small green bitter gourd to
treat cases of alcohol and drug abuse. The bitter gourd variety that
is short and about three inches in length has been found to be the
most effective of all karela varieties available in the country for
treatment of alcoholism.

The short green bitter gourd variety also improves the functioning of
liver, reduces the urge for alcohol, cleans the blood and increases
the immunity level to fight the physiological issues created by
alcoholism. As many as 10,000 people addicted to alcohol have been
successfully treated using the bitter gourd therapy.

“Our study involving hundreds of people addicted to alcohol has
revealed that the juice, obtained from bitter gourd fruit or leaves,
works as a natural antidote to treat alcohol and drug abuse. The
greener and shorter the bitter gourd fruit the greater the effect
against alcoholism. All that an alcohol patient needs to do is to take
a three-inch karela every day. For those patients, who do not want to
take the bitter fruit, we have prepared karela powder for easy
palatability,” said Unani expert Dr Fazal Ahmad, whose team conducted
research on the efficacy of bitter gourd against alcoholism.

According to him, bitter gourd brings down the sensitivity of the body
to alcohol and regular intake of raw karela will help in curing
alcoholism and drug addiction. The ideal course is for 30 days.

In another research study conducted in Mysore, Unani doctors have
found that green bitter gourd (not ripe) contains anti-viral
properties that could successfully be used to attack the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The proteins present in bitter gourd
inhibit the enzyme reverse transcriptase, which is central to the
pathogenesis of HIV and AIDS.

The study revealed that daily intake of bitter gourd will help in
reducing the viral load in people living with HIV and AIDS. Karela
selectively inhibits the growth of cells already infected by human
immunodeficiency virus.