IVY GOURD

Botanical name: Coccinia grandis (L ) Voigt.

Family name: CUCURBITACEAE

Thai name: Tam-lueng

              Ivy gourd or Scarlet gourd is a dioeciously climbing perennial herb with a tuberous rootstock producing annual stems up to several meters long, hispid. It is native to Africa, India, and Australia. In Thailand, it is used as a food and a medicine. In Thai traditional medicine, it is used as a remedy for skin allergy and for skin inflammation, which is caused from the insect bite. In research report, it was found the lectins, chitooliosaccharides, (GlcNAc)_n, from the ivy gourd fruit. These lectins are the carbohydrate-binding protein that is found in the connective tissue. It is act to increase the skin flexibility, especially, the part called as ‘soluble lectin’ that play an important role to the skin flexibility. It is, thus, used the ivy gourd fruit extract in the anti-aging products.

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS OF IVY GOURD FRUIT EXTRACT