The Man Who Turns Spiny Bitter Gourd into Medicine

After leaving the army, Mr Suat came back to Hanoi and studied at Hanoi Medical University, then worked at the 108 Military Hospital. This is where generals and senior politicians received medical treatment. There is cooperation and exchange of scientific expertise with the world, and funds are raised for equipment and machinery.

While working at the hospital, he had the opportunity to become a member of the project on using spiny bitter gourd oil to treat military personnel infected with dioxin during the war and primary cancer. He had access to several medical professors and experts having reputation at home and abroad. He also had the opportunity to access a variety of studies demonstrating the special use of the Vietnamese spiny bitter gourd. This fruit not only supports the treatment of liver cancer and dioxin, but also has the effect of preventing other chronic diseases.

 

He shared: "At the end of the war in Vietnam, all the scientists in Vietnam, the US and other Western countries came together to study and overcome the consequences of the war. Millions of people and soldiers who joined the battle in areas sprayed with toxic chemicals were exposed to Agent Orange (or dioxin) and affected by numerous resulting conditions, including several kinds of cancer." Although the war has receded, serious consequences remain. The US and Western scientists and researchers together with Vietnam’s experts have been making effort to find ways to address the consequences of war, provide treatment for those infected with toxic chemicals and cancer to alleviate the pain of the patient.

 

American scientists along with a team of Vietnamese doctors have seen positive results using high-dose pharmaceuticals for the treatment of toxic dioxins. However, there still exist side effects such as hair loss and appearance of other severe diseases, thus treatment has to be stopped. American scientists continued research and used beta carotene (a precursor of vitamin A) in treatment. However, the level of beta carotene in carrots and tomatoes in America was too low and that was when Vietnamese scientists suggested using the oil of spiny bitter gourd. Patients recovered quickly after 60 days of using spiny bitter gourd oil. Mr Suat said: "Patients eat well, sleep well, gain weight, and get ruddy skin. Laboratory tests including ultrasound and blood tests show that all indicators return to normal condition.” Then American scientists knew about spiny bitter gourd and they tested it and discovered that the substance lycopene in spiny bitter gourd is 70 times as high as that in American tomatoes.

 

Reality shows that the number of patients is so great that doctors themselves cannot take care of and cure all patients. This urged Dr Suat to do something to turn the Vietnamese spiny bitter gourd into a product not only suitable for patients but also for healthy people, and safe for people of all ages. The biggest turning point of his life began after he established VNPOFOOD with the mainstream product of the VINAGA spiny bitter gourd capsule.

 

Established in 2001, VNPOFOOD faced many difficulties since in that time, as the concept of functional food was quite new to Vietnamese people.

On the other hand, due to scarce raw materials for production, Mr Suat was looking for source of raw materials throughout the northern provinces to collect and mobilize people to grow spiny bitter gourd for the company. At the same time, he also pointed out the enormous economic benefits of growing spiny bitter gourd and committed to long-term product purchase. The company has consistently pursued the goal to promote and bring VINAGA to customers across the country.

 

"Spiny bitter gourd is not only a specialty but also a heritage of the Vietnamese people," said Mr Suat. He shared that spiny bitter gourd is grown in a number of countries in Southeast Asia, but in Vietnam, this fruit has the highest nutritional content shown in red colour and bigger size. Realizing the advantage of spiny bitter gourd, VNPOFOOD pioneered to manufacture products from this fruit in Vietnam and the world.

 

Spiny bitter gourd of Vietnam also attracted 20 research projects inside and outside the country. US scientists used Vietnamese spiny bitter gourd oil to test treatment for American women with breast cancer and men with prostate cancer. Those patients recovered very quickly. The University of Tokyo (Japan) conducts research and uses Vietnamese spiny bitter gourd oil to treat complications of diabetes, a common disease in Japanese society today.

 

Thanks to those scientific works, the VINAGA product is available on the international market and widely used in the US and European countries. VINAGA spiny bitter gourd oil products derived from plants help with anti-aging, make eyes brighter and skin more beautiful. It also provides natural vitamin A, prevents rickets, malnutrition, and cancer.

 

Over ten years, VNPOFOOD has achieved a lot of awards including European Gold Award for Quality and Trade Prestige, and European quality International Cups. At present, VNPOFOOD is the only company in Vietnam to be awarded those prizes.

 

Doctor-businessman Nguyen Cong Suat is trying to bring the image and people of Vietnam to the world through the functional medicine products from the spiny bitter gourd. He is taking care of the health of the community. Hopefully in the time to come he will continue his research and make more high quality products.