The amazing health benefits of Kantola (teasle gourd)

Boost your health with this monsoon speciality.

Teasle gourd or Kantola is available across most parts of India during monsoons. Some may know it is as kekrol, kakrol, bhat korola, kartoli or some other name, but one cannot deny the health benefits of this vegetable. It belongs to the bitter gourd family but is not as bitter in taste even with the skin on.

How Kantola helps

Kantola is a great health food as it is rich in proteins and iron and is low on calorie. It contains only 17cal/100g. It's high in fiber and anti-oxidants and thus very useful for easy digestion. It keeps your stomach in good shape during the monsoons by reducing the infections caused and controlling constipation. The phytochemicals present in Kantola or teasle gourd help in promoting the health. The high phenolic content of Kantola makes it a very good antioxidant and promotes cleansing of the body. Carotenoids like Lutein present in this vegetable helps in prevention of various eye diseases, cardiovascular diseases and even cancers.

All plants of the Momordica or bitter gourd family are very effective in controlling diabetes. Hence, this vegetable helps in lowering blood sugar and controlling diabetes. Since Kantola is mostly available during monsoons, it must be used regularly to keep seasonal cough, cold and other allergies away. It exhibits anti-allergen and analgesic properties ^[2] that provide relief from cough and cold and also prevent it.

How to use Kantola

Only the fresh green coloured variety of this vegetable is edible. The skin packs a lot of nutrients and hence should not be removed while cooking.

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References:

1. Gunasekaran Nagarani, Arumugam Abirami, Perumal Siddhuraju. Food prospects and nutraceutical attributes of Momordica species: A potential tropical bioresources A review. Food Science and Wellness doi:10.1016/j.fshw.2014.07.001
2. Maharudra S Rakh,Amol N Khedkar,Nilesh N Aghav,Sanjay R Chaudhari.Antiallergic and analgesic activity of Momordica dioica Roxb. Willd fruit seed. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine doi:10.1016/S2221-1691(12)60157-9