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Many of us in the United States have never heard of bitter melon juice. However, in China, India and other countries in the region, the juice has long been used as a folk medicine to fight diabetes. However, researchers from the University of Colorado Cancer Center and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have gone one step beyond. They have found that the bitter melon juice has properties that can help fight pancreatic cancer and kill off the cancerous cells.

"Alteration in metabolic events in pancreatic cancer cells and an activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase, an enzyme that indicates low energy levels in the cells," study author Dr. Rajesh Argawal, the co-program leader of the Cancer Prevention and and a professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said in a statement.

In their studies, researchers found that bitter melon juice prevents the pancreatic cancer cells from being able to metabolize glucose. This inhibition prevents the cell from accessing its main power source, causing them to wither and die.

The juice also has preventative effects as well. Bitter melon juice also serves as a regulator of insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells. First, researchers performed a study on cell cultures, followed by a study with mice, who served as a model for humans in the study. They found that the mice models who were fed the bitter melon juice were 60 times less likely to develop pancreatic cancer than the controls were.

"Three years ago researchers showed the effect of bitter melon extract on breast cancer cells only in a Petri dish. This study goes much, much farther. We used the juice - people especially in Asian countries are already consuming it in quantity. We show that it affects the glucose metabolism pathway to restrict energy and kill pancreatic cancer cells," Dr. Argawal said in a statement.

The study is exciting in more ways that one. For a long time, scientists have been attempting to engineer methods to cut off cancerous cells from their energy source. In this case, researchers say, they have found a naturally occurring compound that does exactly that.

The study was published in the journal Carcinogenesis.