Bitter Melon has a long tradition of use and data showing an effect on regulating blood sugar levels.

Antiviral effects from fruits, seeds, leaves and vines using hot water or alcohol extracts have been seen in vitro.

The fruit and leaves of the Bitter Melon plant are most often used. It is widely grown in South Asia, India, Southeast Asia, China, the Caribbean, and Africa.

The tough part about this product is that the best way to use it is as a retention enema. That’s right: you prepare the tea and then fill your guts via your butt and hold it until it is absorbed. This works; the oral use isn’t as effective, apparently. Is this a pain in the ass, so to speak? It can be difficult, time-consuming and not entirely comfortable. For a minority of people, this treatment does seem to help improve CD4 counts. This may be due in part to the difficuty of administering it as an enema on a routine basis. The capsules offer an alternative. However, for many, whether taken as a tea, enema or in capsules, it does not appear to have a strong benefit when used alone. Clinical studies of combinations of botanicals with anti-HIV activity are desperately needed.