Noni Juice Benefits
Morinda citrifolia, commonly known as great morinda, Indian mulberry, beach mulberry, Tahitian
noni, cheese fruit or noni (from Hawaiian) is a tree in the family Rubiaceae. Morinda citrifolia is native to
Southeast Asia but has been extensively spread throughout the Indian subcontinent, Pacific islands, French
Polynesia, and recently the Dominican Republic. Tahiti remains the most prominent growing location.
Noni grows in shady forests also as on open rocky or sandy shores and has noni
juice benefits. It reaches maturity in about 18 months and then yields between 4-8 kg of berry every
month throughout the year. It is tolerant of saline soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils. It's therefore
found in a wide variety of habitats: volcanic terrains, lava-strewn coasts, and clearings or limestone outcrops. It
can grow up to 9 m tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves.
The plant flowers and fruits all year round and produces a small white flower. The fruit is really a multiple
fruit that has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also recognized as cheese fruit or even vomit berry. It's
oval and reaches 4-7 cm in size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains
numerous seeds. It's sometimes called starvation fruit. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the berry is
nevertheless eaten being a famine food and, in some Pacific islands, even a staple food, either raw or cooked.
Southeast Asians and Australian Aborigines consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry. The seeds are
edible when roasted.
Noni Juice Benefits
The noni is particularly attractive to weaver ants, which make nests out from the leaves of the tree. These ants
protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects. The smell from the Tahitian Noni fruit also attracts berry
bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds.
Noni Juice Nutrients
The College of Tropical Agriculture, University of Hawaii at Manoa who published analyses of Noni fruit powder
and pure Noni juice, reports Noni Juice Benefits nutritional information for Tahitian noni fruit.
Noni Juice Macronutrients
Analyzed being a whole berry powder, Tahitian noni fruit has excellent levels of carbohydrates and dietary
fiber, providing 55% and 100% from the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI), respectively, in a 100 g serving. A great
source of protein (12% DRI), Tahitian noni pulp is low in total fats (4% DRI).
These macronutrients evidently reside within the berry pulp, as Tahitian noni juice has sparse
amounts of macronutrients.
Noni Micronutrients
The main Noni Juice Benefits micronutrient features of noni pulp powder include exceptional
vitamin C content (10x DRI) and substantial amounts of niacin (vitamin B3), iron and potassium. Vitamin A, calcium
and sodium are present in moderate amounts.
When Tahitian noni juice alone is analyzed and compared to pulp powder, only vitamin C is
retained at a higher level, 42% of DRI.
Even though the most significant Noni Juice Benefits nutrient feature of noni pulp powder or juice is its higher
vitamin C content, this level within the noni juice blend provides only about half the vitamin C of a raw navel
orange. Sodium levels within the noni juice blend (about 3% of DRI) are multiples of those in an orange. Although
the potassium content appears relatively higher for noni, this total is only about 3% of the Recommended Dietary
Allowance and so would not be considered excessive. The noni juice blend is otherwise similar in micronutrient
content to a raw orange.
Phytochemicals
The history of published medical study on noni phytochemicals numbers only around a total of 110 reports, which
began appearing in the 1950s (searched in September 2008). Just since 2000, more than 100 publications on noni have
been published in medical literature, defining a relatively young research field. Noni research is at a preliminary
stage, as it is mainly still in the laboratory as in vitro or basic animal experiments.
Noni fruit contains noni juice benefits phytochemicals for which there are no
established DRI values. Examples:
* lignans - a group of phytoestrogens having biological activities shown by in vitro experiments
* oligo- and polysaccharides - long-chain sugar molecules that serve a prebiotic function as dietary fiber
fermentable by colonic bacteria, yielding short chain fatty acids with numerous potential wellness properties not
yet defined by scientific study on noni
* flavonoids - phenolic compounds like rutin and asperulosidic acid, common in several Rubiaceae plants
* iridoids - secondary metabolites discovered in numerous plants
* trisaccharide fatty acid esters, "noniosides" - resulting from combination of an alcohol and an acid in
noni fruit
* free fatty acids - most prominent in noni fruit are caprylic acid and hexanoic acid, responsible for
special pungent (cheese-like) aroma of ripe noni fruit
* scopoletin - might have antibiotic activities; study is preliminary
* catechin and epicatechin
* beta-sitosterol - a plant sterol with potential for anti-cholesterol activity not yet proven in human
study
* damnacanthal - a potentially toxic anthraquinone, putatively an inhibitor of HIV viral proteins
* alkaloids - naturally occurring amines from plants. Some internet references mention xeronine or
proxeronine as important noni constituents. Nevertheless, as no reports on either of these substances exist in
published medical literature, the terms are scientifically unrecognized. Further, chemical analysis of commercially
processed juice did not reveal presence of any alkaloids.
Although there is evidence from in vitro studies and laboratory models for bioactivity of each of the above
phytochemicals, the study remains at greatest preliminary and too early to conclude anything about human health
benefits provided by noni or its juice. Furthermore, these phytochemicals aren't unique to noni, as nearly all
exist in numerous plant foods.
Laboratory experiments demonstrated that dietary noni juice increased physical endurance in mice. A pilot study
in distance runners showed increased endurance capacity following daily intake of noni juice over three weeks, an
effect the authors attributed to increased antioxidant status.
Uses for Noni Juice
Although noni's reputation for uses in folk medicine extends more than centuries, no medical applications as those
discussed below are verified by modern science.
In China, Samoa, Japan, and Tahiti, numerous parts from the tree (leaves, flowers, fruits, bark, roots) serve as
tonics and to contain fever, to treat eye and skin problems, gum and throat problems as well as constipation,
stomach pain, or respiratory difficulties. In Malaysia, heated noni leaves used to the chest are believed to
relieve coughs, nausea, or colic.
The noni fruit is taken, in Indochina particularly, for asthma, lumbago, and dysentery. As for external uses,
unripe fruits could be pounded, then mixed with salt and applied to cut or broken bones. In Hawaii, ripe fruits are
applied to draw out pus from an infected boil. The green fruit, leaves and the root/rhizome have traditionally been
used to treat menstrual cramps and irregularities, among other symptoms, while the root has also been utilized to
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The bark of the great morinda produces a brownish-purplish dye for batik making; on the Indonesian island of
Java, the trees are cultivated for this purpose. In Hawaii, yellowish dye is extracted from its root in order to
dye cloth. The berry is used as a shampoo in Malaysia, where it's said to be helpful against head lice. See Goji
Berry Liquid wellness benefits, noni fruit, noni juice scam, noni products, and noni benefits on this web site.
There are recent applications also for the use of oil from noni seeds. Noni seed oil is abundant in linoleic
acid that may have useful noni juice benefits when applied topically on skin, e.g., anti-inflammation, acne
reduction, and moisture retention.
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