Nutritional constituents and medicinal values of Momordica cymbalaria (Athalakkai) - A review

The plant Momordica cymbalaria (M. cymbalaria) belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae, originating in tropical regions of India and South East Asia. M. cymbalaria Hoof. is commonly known as Karchikai (Kannada) or Athalakkai (Tamil) or Kasarakayee (Andra Pradesh) and Kakrol (India). Athalakkai has been used in various Asian traditional medicine systems for a long time. The plant is traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, rheumatism, ulcer, skin disease, and diarrhoea. The fruit of this plant have been reported to possess hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic, cardio protective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective and antioxidant properties. Owing to anthropogenic activities, such as habitat destruction due to grazing and urbanization, and poor seed viability and germination, M. cymbalaria is under threat of extinction. This review focuses on the cultivation, nutritional and chemical composition, as well as medicinal and therapeutic properties of this plant.