🛡SHIELDING YOURSELF FROM SUGAR:
Let’s picture this. It’s night time, and you feel like something sweet OR you’re an athlete and have to CARB-load before training/comp.
You know that a high sugar meal can SPIKE insulin, and if you keep TAXING your insulin signalling, you’re at least progressing towards insulin resistance, and subsequently type 2 diabetes (Jones et al., 2011). So this is where Bitter melon comes in to at least support your body.
❇️HOW BITTER MELON SUPPORTS YOU:
Bitter melon has profound blood glucose lowering effects through three unique compounds (probably more not even discovered by science yet):
Charantin, which has been confirmed to have a blood glucose-lowering effect, vicine, and an insulin-like compound known as polypeptide-p (Joseph et a., 2013).
🍫FIGHTS INSULIN RESISTANCE/DIABETES:
It stimulates and strengthens insulin secretion itself (Wang et al., 2011), thanks to a complex of action mechanisms including activation of AMP-K (Iseli et al., 2013) and inhibition of the activity of PTP1B, a protein tyrosine phosphatase that hydrolyses phosphotyrosine on the insulin receptor, which induces deactivation of the receptor itself and consequently the onset of insulin resistance, even in type 2 diabetes, by increasing GLUT-4 type glucose membrane transporters (Shih et al., 2009). A powerful insulin-sensitising effect which, combined with that of the insulin stimulator itself, results in a marked hypoglycaemic action and synergistic support for the optimal use of carbohydrates.
💥TAKEAWAY:
Take Bitter Melon with a cheat meal, or a high carb meal before training for enhanced glucose shuttling into MUSCLE cells and out of the blood. It also supports insulin sensitivity.
Purchase here: https://www.ergogenichealth.com.au/product/bitter-melon-extract
Image credit: Swapan Photography