Vietnamese market gardeners have become linchpins in the global search for better diabetes treatments.

In the Sydney Basin, the "bitterer the better" is a saying they have for bitter melon, most popular of all Asian melons among local consumers, long regarded as health- promoting food.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) is undertaking variety trials that will identify bitter melon varieties rich in medicinal compounds, and ones that are most successful under greenhouse systems, so they can be grown year round.

NSW DPI researchers are working with women growers in Sydney and Vietnam to develop varieties suitable for greenhouses.

Now in a separate, concurrent project, an Australian-Chinese medical research team believe they may have discovered the basis for a new drug for type two diabetes, after breaking bitter melon into its most basic compounds.

Along with evidence recently reported by ABC news, there is anecdotal belief among some Sydney consumers that bitter melon can help diabetics.

"I know people who cut it up, dry it, cook it, then drink the vegetable water for that reason," western Sydney Vietnamese grower Kristina Le said.

"The whole plant - except the seed - the flesh and stem, are all good to eat.

"It always has at least a slightly bitter taste, depending on the recipe, and it’s generally seen as very healthy.

"Asian customers’ favourite recipes are to stuff it with meat or fry it with eggs."

Among half a dozen Vietnamese background growers in western Sydney, Ms Le and husband, Gu Kong Hwang, currently send the most to market.

"Our growing season gets swamped by all-year round product from Darwin and Queensland," Ms Le said.

Consequently, they’re price takers, but between December and March they average about 500 kilograms a week.

For about one month each year on their farm at Austral, where they grow a variety of Asian vegetable crops, they harvest up to one tonne of bitter melon each week.

They sell to local markets and anything left over goes to Flemington.

"Farmers who have been growing bitter melon for many years in the western Sydney Basin, like farmers everywhere, are feeling the effects of drought and low commodity prices," NSW DPI’s Virginia Brunton said.

"They understand that with better production systems and varieties suited to both the climate and greenhouse production skills, they can reduce their input costs and make greater profits."

Ms Brunton, a NSW DPI education officer in horticulture research development at DPI’s National Centre for Greenhouse Horticulture at Gosford, is co-ordinating the variety trials, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Gosford researcher, Sophie Parks, will trial different nutrient, irrigation and grafting techniques to get the best from the varieties.
Farmers will be approached to engage in the greenhouse trials, then extend the results to on-farm trials.

Contact Virginia Brunton, Gosford, (02) 4348 1913.

Clinical trial ‘as soon as possible’

China is concerned that within two decades, its people will number among the most sufferers of diabetes in the world, so a research delegation is in Australia to explore new options for diabetes medication.

Researchers at one of Australia’s most respected medical research organisations, the Garvan Institute, working with the Chinese in Sydney, have found new compounds in bitter melon that trigger glucose absorbtion when applied to muscle cells.

Professor David James, leading the Garvan team working with the Chinese, says mice fed the compound just before a meal had a much more efficient removal of glucose from the blood, compared to animals that had not been given the drug.

The research team’s most significant observation was that there were no side effects in the mice with type two diabetes.

Professor James told Agriculture Today "our goal is to initiate a clinical trial with bitter melon extract as soon as possible".

However, the researchers stress caution, consultation with medical professionals and the need for scientific validation, to all type two diabetics who may now be inclined to take bitter melon.