The antidiabetic activities of bitter melon powders produced with lyophilization/superfine grinding and hot air drying/normal grinding were investigated in vivo for selecting a suitable bitter melon processing procedure. After a five-week treatment, bitter melon lyophilized superfine grinding powder (BLSP) had a higher antidiabetic activity with reducing fasting blood glucose levels from 21.40 to 12.54 mmol/L, the serum insulin levels from 40.93 to 30.74 mIU/L, and restoring activities of SOD compared with those in the bitter melon hot air drying powder (BAP) treated group. Furthermore, BLSP protected pancreatic tissues including islet beta cells and reduced the loss of islet cells. Combined with the difference of compositions in BLSP and BAP, it could be concluded that superfine grinding and lyophilization processes were beneficial for presenting the antidiabetic activity, which will provide a reference for direct utilization of bitter melon as a suitable functional food to relieve symptoms of diabetes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.