Banaba leaf, rich in corosolic acid (the “plant insulin”), raised beta-cell function by 36.5% in 14 days in a randomised trial (Hibi et al., 2022), and both extracts are in Immority EvenOn.
Bitter gourd is the vegetable Singapore families already know as “good for sugar”: stir-fried with egg, stuffed at the yong tau foo stall, simmered in sliced fish soup or blended into juice. The bitter melon blood sugar question deserves a straight answer, and part of it is that a plate or a glass is not a measured, standardised dose. Banaba leaf is far less familiar here, but it sits next to bitter melon in EvenOn’s formula, so this guide covers both.
Immority EvenOn is a blood sugar balance drink from Immority. One 5 g sachet a day, stirred into water with your main meal, gives you 11 botanicals led by gymnema (25% gymnemic acid) and mulberry leaf (5% DNJ). It is halal (JAKIM) and classified as a food product by Malaysia’s NPRA, where it is made.
See also: What is Immority EvenOn? The complete Singapore guide
Does bitter melon really lower blood sugar?
The research says it helps. A meta-analysis that pooled 8 trials found that bitter melon supplementation improved three markers together: fasting blood sugar, after-meal blood sugar and HbA1c (Zhang et al., 2024).
The compound that gets the attention is Polypeptide-K, an insulin-like peptide. It binds to and activates insulin receptors, opening the way for cells to take in glucose, much as insulin does. Bitter melon also slows how fast sugar is absorbed from the gut, helps the liver store glucose, and shields the pancreas’s beta cells from oxidative stress.
What is banaba, and why is it called plant insulin?
Banaba is a leaf whose extract is rich in corosolic acid, nicknamed “plant insulin” because it works in a way that resembles insulin. It acts in three places:
- Gut: it slows sucrase, the enzyme that splits table sugar, so the after-meal curve rises more gently.
- Liver: it curbs the liver’s sugar production overnight, which shows in the next morning’s fasting reading.
- Muscle: it helps muscles pull in glucose by moving GLUT4, their glucose transporter, into place.
In a randomised, double-blind controlled trial, beta-cell function measured during an oral glucose tolerance test was 36.5% higher after 14 days of banaba (Hibi et al., 2022). Beta cells, found in the pancreas, are the only cells that make and release insulin.
Is bitter gourd juice good for blood sugar?
It can be part of a sugar-friendly diet, but a home-made glass is a rough tool, and it needs care if you take diabetes medicine.
Bitter gourd juice is usually raw gourd blended with water, often with green apple, lemon or honey to soften the bitterness. No two glasses are alike: the strength changes with the gourd, how much you use and how you make it, and the fruit or honey adds sugar back in. The trials pooled by Zhang et al. (2024) studied bitter melon supplementation, and a juice-stall cup is not standardised, so their results do not carry over to your glass one for one. If you enjoy it, ask for it without sugar or honey, keep the portion modest and stop if it upsets your stomach. If you are on insulin or on tablets such as gliclazide, any extra sugar-lowering food or drink can push your readings down, so check your sugar more often for the first few weeks and tell your doctor what you are drinking.
How do bitter melon and banaba work inside EvenOn?
They play supporting roles next to the two leads, gymnema and mulberry leaf, and work with them on the liver and the muscles:
- Liver: banaba and mulberry help the liver release less sugar, steadying night-time and next-morning fasting sugar.
- Muscle and fat: mulberry and banaba raise insulin sensitivity so cells take in glucose for energy, helped by the bitter melon peptide.
One 5 g sachet a day in 100 to 150 ml of room-temperature water, taken with your highest-carb meal, gives you all 11 botanicals at 16 kcal and 0.3 g total sugars (nutrition panel), with a light green-apple taste rather than a bitter glass. For every ingredient and its study, see the 11 botanicals in EvenOn, one by one.
Who should be careful with bitter melon and banaba?
Anyone on diabetes medicine, and anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, should speak to their doctor before adding either one. Both are taken for their effect on blood sugar, and that effect adds to your medicine.
People on insulin or on tablets that push the pancreas to release insulin, such as gliclazide, are most at risk of a low. Know the signs: shaking, sweating, a fast heartbeat, hunger and confusion. HealthHub advises seeing your doctor if your blood sugar is recurrently low, below 4 mmol/L. On metformin or any other diabetes medicine, keep taking it as prescribed and never stop or change the dose on your own. Check your sugar more often in the first weeks, because your readings may come down, and tell your GP or polyclinic doctor what you have added. With a known allergy, read the ingredient list first, and stop if you feel any discomfort.
What else lowers blood sugar alongside bitter gourd?
Your plate, your drinks and your daily steps do the heavy lifting, and Singapore’s own guideline puts numbers on each.
Singapore’s ACE Clinical Guideline on pre-diabetes (Ministry of Health) recommends a plate that is half vegetables with a small portion of fruit, a quarter lean protein and a quarter whole grains such as brown rice, water instead of sugar-sweetened drinks, and at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise such as brisk walking a week. The same guideline reports that lifestyle changes like these cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 31% to 37% over 2 to 6 years. At the economy rice stall, that means two vegetables, one lean meat and a smaller scoop of rice, with kopi or teh siew dai on the way to kosong.
Not sure where your numbers stand? Singapore diagnoses pre-diabetes with a fasting glucose test and the oral glucose tolerance test, not HbA1c: 6.1 to 6.9 mmol/L fasting is impaired fasting glucose, and 7.8 to 11.0 mmol/L at 2 hours is impaired glucose tolerance (ACE). Our guide to pre-diabetes and normal blood sugar levels in Singapore explains each band.
