The University of Texas reports that a Professor of Botany and Head of the Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Lagos, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, describes Bitter Leaf as a shrub or tree which grows to about five meters high especially around forest-margins and is widely distributed throughout tropical Africa.
“The leaves are very bitter. Bitterness can be abated by boiling or in the young leaves by soaking in several changes of water. They are held to be anti-scorbutic and are added to soups or eaten as spinach.”
An extract of Bitter Leaf has been shown to be an active anticancer agent. Physiologically relevant concentrations of extract from Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) inhibit DNA synthesis in a breast cancer cell line.
According to recent research, “Discovery of water-soluble anticancer agents (Edotides) from a vegetable found in Benin City, Nigeria,” published in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine, Bitter Leaf may prevent the onset of breast cancer.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect(s) of a novel water-soluble leaf extract of Vernonia amygdalina (VA) on human breast cancer cell DNA synthesis. The MCF-7 cell line, considered a suitable model, was used in this study.

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