... its name suggests, taste very bitter and add an astringent or sour quality to foods. Bitter melon contains a protein, MAP30, that ... saponins, charantin, peptides, and alkaloids that contribute to bitter melon's hypoglycemic effects. In the Amazon, the juice of ... (HIV)The alpha- and beta-momorchardin proteins contained in bitter melon have an inhibiting effect on human immunodefiency virus (HIV) ...