Cerasee
Quick Facts
- What it is: Cerasee is a bitter Caribbean bush tea made from the vine and leaves of Momordica charantia, the bitter melon plant.
- Main uses: Blood sugar support, Colds and fever, Skin rashes and itch, Bowel "cleansing", Worms
- Active ingredients: Charantin, Polypeptide-p, Cucurbitane triterpenoids, Momordicin, Vicine (in seeds), Flavonoids
- Forms: Fresh vine and leaf tea, Dried herb and tea bags, Fruit eaten as a vegetable, Juice, Capsules and extracts, Skin washes
- Time to effect: Weeks, if anything at all
- Side effects: Nausea, cramps and loose stools are common; low blood sugar and harm in pregnancy are the serious risks.
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What is Cerasee?
Cerasee is the leafy vine Momordica charantia, boiled into a very bitter bush tea across the Caribbean. The same plant gives the warty green fruit sold as bitter melon or karela. In Jamaica, the vine, leaves and stems are the parts most often used.
People drink it as a "wash out" or cleansing tea. It is also used for colds and fever, skin rashes, belly upset, worms and high blood sugar.
Here is the honest verdict. Human trials of this plant, mostly for type 2 diabetes (high blood sugar), are small and mixed, and the better ones found little effect. Long traditional use is not proof that it works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
Two risks are real and well described: it can push blood sugar too low, and it has been linked to miscarriage. Those shape who should stay away from it.
How does Cerasee work?
No one has shown exactly how cerasee acts in the human body. Most of what is claimed comes from lab and animal work.
In cell studies, compounds from the plant appear to help muscle cells take in sugar. In animals, extracts have lowered blood sugar. Whether a cup of bush tea does the same in people is not settled.
One seed protein, polypeptide-p, acts a little like insulin in animals. It was mostly tested by injection, not by drinking tea.
In test tubes, extracts slow some bacteria, viruses and parasites. That does not mean the tea clears an infection in a person.
The "cleansing the blood" idea has no test behind it. Your liver and kidneys already do that work.
What forms does Cerasee come in?
Most people meet cerasee as a dried bush tea. Strength differs hugely between forms.
Fresh vine, leaves and stems, boiled as a tea.
Dried cut herb, sold loose or in tea bags.
The fruit, bitter melon, cooked as a vegetable.
Bottled juice pressed from the fruit.
Capsules and dry extracts, usually labelled "bitter melon".
Leaf washes and baths used on the skin.
A cup of weak tea and a concentrated capsule are not the same thing. Treating one like the other is how people get into trouble.
Where it comes from:
Cerasee has been a household bush tea in the Caribbean for generations. The plant came from Africa and Asia. It reached the islands through the slave trade and later through Indian indentured labour.
It carries many local names. It is caraille or carailli in Trinidad and Tobago, asosi in Haiti, cundeamor in Cuba, and karela in Indian kitchens.
In Jamaica it was drunk as a seasonal "wash out" to clean the blood and the belly. Elders gave it to children for fever, worms, colds and rashes. Bush healers also used the boiled leaves as a wash for sores and itchy skin.
Who should avoid Cerasee?
- Never drink cerasee tea or take bitter melon products if you are pregnant or think you may be. It has been linked to miscarriage and bleeding.
- Do not use it if you are trying to get pregnant.
- Do not use it while breastfeeding, as safety for the baby is unknown.
- Never give it to babies or young children. Children have had dangerously low blood sugar after fruit or seed preparations.
- Do not use it if you have G6PD deficiency (an inherited enzyme fault that makes red blood cells fragile).
- Do not add it to insulin or diabetes tablets unless your doctor agrees and watches your readings.
- Never stop or cut your prescribed diabetes medicine in order to use cerasee.
- Do not use it if you have liver disease or raised liver enzymes.
- Avoid it for about two weeks before any planned surgery.
- Do not eat or crush the seeds, which carry the highest risk.
When should you see a doctor?
Stop and get medical help the same day if you have shaking, sweating, confusion, blurred vision or fainting. These can be signs of low blood sugar.
Go to urgent care if you have dark or tea-coloured urine, yellow eyes or skin, or sudden weakness and pallor. These can mean red blood cell or liver trouble.
Get emergency care if a child swallows cerasee tea, fruit or seeds and becomes drowsy, sweaty or floppy.
If you are pregnant and have taken it, call your midwife or doctor now, especially with any bleeding or cramping.
See your doctor before using it at all if you take any diabetes medicine.
Is Cerasee legal where you live?
In the United States, bitter melon is sold as a dietary supplement, and the fruit is an ordinary food. It is not approved as a drug for any condition.
In the United Kingdom and the European Union it is sold as a food or food supplement. It is not a licensed medicine there either.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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