**14. Conclusion**

It is known that the majority of the world population prefer traditional folk medicine products to industrial products. One of the main reason for the increased interest in herbal medicinal products is that natural products will be considered less toxic, but this is often a false perception. In health problems, many components of vegetable origin obtained from natural products have the potential to act as supplements, alone or in mixtures. Due to the synergistic effect, many active compounds may have therapeutic potential much higher than the effects they can give alone when given as a herbal preparation. It is helpful for different diseases such as inflammatory, leukemic, diabetic, mutagenic, mycobacterial, microbial, tumor, ulcer, aphrodisiac, viral, astringent, carminative, cytotoxic, hormonal, depurative, hypotensive, immuno-stimulant, etc. Bitter melon is the most important medicinal plant having good therapeutic values. Therapeutic importance bitter melon is traditionally famous due to its medicinal importance. It has as anticancer, antiviral, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, immune-stimulant and cholesterol reduction properties. It contains many phenolic compounds, due to this reason, it has antioxidant and antimutagen properties. Its fruit, leaves, stem and roots all are used for the treatment of many diseases such as hyperlipidaemia, digestive disorders, microbial infection and menstrual problems. It has antiviral and anticarcinogenic properties which can boost the immune system. Other medicinal properties such as wound-healing activity have revealed that the bitter melon extract has high amount of therapeutic compounds for the regeneration of tissues that encouraged the proliferation of dermal fibroblasts of human.

Bitter melon is also shown to express anti-HIV activity with alpha- and betamomorcharin proteins that are present in seeds, leaves, and fruit. Investigation on the bioactivities of *M. charantia* has developed rapidly. Application of bitter melon in food and medicinal fields are still in the initial processing stages; the health benefits are still far from being fully utilized. Due to its numerous health functions, the plant can be utilized in tumor therapy, lowering blood glucose and other aspects of clinical applications with broad prospects under the premise of ensuring safety.

As conclusion, bitter melon has different medicinal properties due to the presence of high bioactive compounds that is beneficial for the human health This chapter provides information about nutritional profile and food value of bitter melon to highlight the bioactive composition that is linked to its therapeutic effects, aiming to fully utilize bitter melon and add further value to this medicinal plant.

*Functional Foods - Phytochemicals and Health Promoting Potential*
