The bitterness, biosynthesis, chemical transformation, and antidiabetic activity of cucurbitane-type triterpenoids from bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.).
- 2025-12
- Food chemistry 497
- Lang Liu
- Ziqiang Lin
- Xueyi Cai
- Yuyu Zhang
- Yan Yang
- Chunxue Yang
- Dong Liang
- PubMed: 41240866
- DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.147081
Study Design
- Type
- Review
Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is a popular vegetable renowned for its intense bitter taste and antidiabetic properties, which primarily derive from its cucurbitane-type triterpenoids. To date, more than 240 cucurbitane-type triterpenoids have been reported from bitter gourd. However, their bitter taste, formation pathway, and antidiabetic mechanisms have not been systematically discussed yet. This review summarizes studies on 244 different cucurbitane-type triterpenoids from bitter gourd during the last four decades. The bitterness of bitter gourd is attributed to five key cucurbitane-type triterpenoids. The chemodiversity of reported cucurbitane-type triterpenoids arises from enzymatic biosynthesis and subsequent non-enzymatic modifications. Analysis of the 244 reported cucurbitane-type triterpenoids indicates that a majority (141, or 58 %) are isolation artifacts. In contrast, only 45 (18 %) have plausible biosynthetic pathways confirming their native origin. These naturally occurring compounds exhibit antidiabetic activity through multiple enzymatic and cellular pathways.