Charantia (Ampalaya)

The Ampalaya which is notorious for its bitter tasting fruit, has long been used as a traditional home remedy for various maladies including diabetes. As a matter of fact as early as 1995, the Department of Health declared that the Ampalaya’s anti-diabetic potency has been “scientifically proven” and has since then been promoting Ampalaya tea as home remedy for diabetes.

But the Ampalaya’s reputation as an effective herb against diabetes and its rise to become today’s most popular herbal plant really started in Oct. 4, 1999 when a pioneering company known as Herbcare Corp. registered with the Bureau of Food and Drugs the first Ampalaya commercial product under the brand name of Charantia Ampalaya Food Supplement. Herbcare launched Charantia on January 2000 and was almost an instant hit among diabetics. To give the consumers a wider choice, Herbcare Corp. would later launch two more variants of Charantia tea in teabags and 500mg Ampalaya capsules.

Within the next two years after Charantia broke into the market, the Ampalaya became so popular that other companies also introduced new brands of Ampalaya products into the market that further helped popularize the Ampalaya among diabetics and the general public.

Daniel Abelarde, the general manager of Herbcare Corporation recalls that during the early part of 2000, the year Charantia was launched, Charantia immediately received wide acceptance by diabetics, but there was a noticeable reluctance on the part of doctors to use the product.

“So we submitted Charantia to an independent diabetologist for a clinical trial to verify whether it can really help diabetics control their blood sugar when taken as part of their daily diet, exercise and doctor-prescribed medication,” Abelarde said.

The clinical trial was finished the next year and published in the July-August 2001 issue of the Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine. The study confirmed Charantia’s safety and beneficial use as food supplement for diabetics.

Armed with this traditional medical evidence supporting Charantia’s antidiabetic potency aside from the numerous medical studies done worldwide that also confirm the Ampalaya’s fruits and seeds blood sugar lowering benefits. Herbcare medical consultants then started holding “scientific meetings” with numerous doctors’ groups to explain Charantia’s supporting role in the management of diabetes. “These medical evidences and our boldness in presenting them to doctors’ groups are the keys which opened for us the doors of many doctors. Charantia is now regularly invited for exhibition during the conventions of many associations of doctors and allied medical professionals,” Abelarde added.

And in October 2001, two years after Charantia was registered with the BFAD, it received the official endorsement of a national medical association, a distinction that is unprecedented in the history of herbal products in the country and probably the whole world. In officially endorsing Charantia, the Association of Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines (AMHOP) composed of the doctors who run our country’s network of municipal health workers declared that “we have tested and found Charantia to be a safe and effective dietary adjunct in the treatment of diabetes that is priced well within the reach of the special sector that AMHOP serve.

“Today, an increasing number of doctors already accept the Ampalaya’s benefits as a food supplement in the treatment of diabetes, but they continue to be discriminating in their choice of the brand of Ampalaya product to support. They will support products with credible medical evidence for their product claims and reject those with none.” Abelarde said.

With Herbcare’s Charantia leading the pack of other Ampalaya products and showing the way to secure the acceptance by diabetics and the support of doctors, it seems that the Ampalaya’s popularity will continue to rise and may soon spread to other parts of the world.