Noni

Noni

While Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming was busy accidentally discovering penicillin and ushering in a new era of disease treatment, residents in the Pacific Islands were content to sip noni cocktails.

"Antibiotics will wipe out illness entirely by the end of the 20th century!" American scientists boldly predicted.

The 20th century is yesterday's news and antibiotics are not cure-alls. Frustrated by the pharmaceutical industry, rising costs of medical treatment and side effects that accompany some antibiotics--combined with a heightened desire to age gracefully--many consumers decided to look to nature. Echinacea, ginseng and St. John's wort experienced an unprecedented buying frenzy in the 1990s as if the age-old remedies were brand-new products.

Noni is one herb that may live up to the hype. The noni plant, Morinda citrifolica, is a small evergreen tree found in many parts of the tropics, including the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, India and the Philippines. Traditional healers in these regions have used noni for gum infections, sore throats, urinary tract infections, fevers, diabetes, tuberculosis, joint pain, arthritis, headaches, cancer, high blood pressure, skin and gastric conditions, inflammation and loss of appetite. Noni may also stimulate the immune system by regulating cell function and cellular regeneration of damaged cells. Glycosides are sugar compounds found in noni that work on a cellular level, which may explain why this herb is useful for a wide variety of conditions.

All parts of the noni plant have active compounds, including the fruit, leaves, flowers, bark and roots. Modern chemical analysis of noni reveals that it contains nutrients and phytochemicals such as the antioxidant vitamins C and E, as well as bioflavonoids. It is mainly seen as an adaptogen, meaning it increases the body's resistance to stress or disease. Researchers have isolated 50 compounds within noni, including serotonin, damnacanthal, carotenoids, terpenes, sitosterol, glycosides and ursolic acid.

In the preface to his book, Tahitian Noni Juice: How Much, How Often, For What? (Direct Source Publishing, 2000), Neil Solomon M.D., Ph.D., stated, "As I was collecting these data (particularly the noni case studies), one of the questions that I continually came back to was: How can liquid noni possibly help so many people with over 100 diverse health problems? I concluded that it does not help everyone, and it does not help with all health problems. However, 78 percent of the more than 15,000 noni users reported that it helped in some way, including fighting cancer, heart disease, digestive disorders, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, stroke and weight problems."

Solomon added that noni is invaluable as a healing herb because it increases energy, alleviates pain, acts as an anti-inflammatory and anti-histaminic agent, has antibacterial properties that can protect against digestive and heart damage, and works with melatonin and serotonin to help regulate sleep, temperature and mood cycles.

An August 2001 study conducted by the University of Minnesota found that two of noni's glycosides--6-O- (beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-1-O-octanoyl-beta-D-glucopyranose and asperulosidic acid--promoted cell health.¹

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tuberculosis (TB) cases are increasing worldwide due to the emergence of drug-resistant strains. In a December 2000 study conducted by researchers at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, extracts from the leaves of noni showed a significant inhibitory rate against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB. The active compounds were isolated from the extract and found to be phytosterols. The compounds were structurally different from the drugs typically used to treat TB, indicating that the compounds may act under a different mechanism that could be useful for building an alternative drug to fight resistant bacterial strains. ²

Noni formulations include juices, teas, leaf tablets, juice extract capsules, chewable tablets and oils, but according to noni researcher Rita Elkins, M.H., the most efficacious supplementation of noni is a freeze-dried, powdered form. The freeze-drying process removes only the water without damaging any of this plant's vital enzymes.

Noni fruit and juice was declared Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; however, higher doses of root extract may cause constipation. In addition, taking noni with coffee, alcohol or nicotine is
not recommended.

1. Liu G et al. "Two novel glycosides from the fruits of Morinda citrifolia (noni) inhibit AP-1 transactivation and cell transformation in the mouse epidermal JB6 cell line." Cancer Res. 61,15:5749-56, 2001.

2. Saludes J. 2000 International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies. December, 2000.

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