Morinda citrifolia

Great morinda, Noni
Leaves, flowers, and fruit of Morinda citrifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Rubiaceae
Genus:	Morinda
Species:	M. citrifolia
Binomial name
Morinda citrifolia L.

Morinda citrifolia, commonly known as Great morinda, Indian mulberry, Noni (from Hawaiian), Nono Tahiti, Aal (in Hindi), is a shrub or small tree in the family Rubiaceae. Morinda citrifolia is native to Southeast Asia but has been extensively spread by man throughout India and into the Pacific islands as far as the French Polynesian Islands prominent in Tahiti Nui.

Flowers and unripe and ripe fruit of Morinda citrifolia

It grows in shady forests as well as on open rocky or sandy shores. It is tolerant of saline soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils. It 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 richest of these soils are found in French Polynesia Tahiti Nui.

The plant flowers and fruits all year round. The flowers are small and white. The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit. It is oval and reaches 4-7 cm in size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains many seeds. Despite its smell, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as 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. Seeds are edible when roasted.

The Noni is especially attractive to weaver ants, which make nests out of the leaves of the tree. These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects. The smell of the fruit also attracts fruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds.

Uses

In China, Japan and Tahiti, various parts of the tree (leaves, flowers, fruits, bark) 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 applied to the chest are believed to relieve coughs, nausea or colic. In the Philippines, juice is extracted from the leaves as a treatment for arthritis.

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. In Surinam and different other countries, the tree serves as a wind-break, as support for vines and as shade trees for coffee bushes. The fruit is used as a shampoo in Malaysia, where it is said to be helpful against head lice.

The noni fruit is taken, in Indochina especially, for asthma, lumbago and dysentery. As for external uses, unripe fruits can 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. Overripe fruits give extracts that regulate menstruation or ease urinary difficulties. In the United States and Canada "Noni" is marketed as a health food item and is usually sold as a specialty item.

Manufacturers of noni products claim xeronine is the biologically active ingredient. Xeronine, US PATENT 4,543,212. A new Alkaloid, Useful in Medical, Food, And Industrial Fields. RALPH HEINICKE. The composition, characterization, assay, the mode of action and the utility of a new alkaloid, xeronine may be isolated from a wide variety of natural materials by observing certain techniques and precautions. However, until the year 2006, twenty years after the first publication of Xeronine, still not a single scientific evidence for the existence of Xeronie has been published in a major journal. The chemical structure of Xeronine is still unknown and unpublished.

Wild noni growing in Kuliouou Valley, Hawaii

Legal aspects

In August 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Flora, Inc. over their website promotions of noni juice in the context of various testimonials and claims of scientific studies. The FDA has not approved any statements regarding medical or therapeutic effects of noni juice and related substances. To date, no clinical studies on the claimed uses for noni have been conducted.[1] Therefore no medical or therapeutical effects may be claimed to Noni products

In the European Union, juice from the noni is registered as a novel food. This registration is valid for noni juice only. Any other food products made from noni are not covered by this registration. Therefore it is forbidden by law to sell other food products made from noni within the EU. It is also illegal to claim any medical or therapeutic effects from any noni products within the EU since they are not approved by a competent authority.

In 2005, two scientific publications described incidents of acute hepatitis caused by a noni preparation. As a result, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) initiated an evaluation of current noni products. In Germany, the National Agency for Risk Evaluation (BfR) started reviewing cases of acute hepatitis which may have been caused by noni products in 2006. Note: The authors of the two publications did not directly find the toxins in Noni, instead, they suggested anthraquinones which have been only found in Noni root, not in Noni fruit juice.

References

• Altonn, Helen (July 24, 2005). "Noni shows cancer promise". Honolulu Star-Bulletin News.
• Thomas, Chris (August 30, 2002). "Noni No Miracle Cure". Cancerpage.com.
• "Herbal hepatotoxicity: acute hepatitis caused by a Noni preparation (Morinda citrifolia)". European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 17 (4): 445–7. 2005. ISSN 0954-691X. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Hepatotoxicity of NONI juice: Report of two cases". World Journal of Gastroenterology. 11 (30): 4758–60. 2005. ISSN 1007-9327. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Chemical constituents of Morinda citrifolia fruits inhibit copper-induced low-density lipoprotein oxidation". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 52 (19): 5843–8. 2004. ISSN 0021-8561. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Are immune responses pivotal to cancer patient's long term survival? Two clinical case-study reports on the effects of Morinda citrifolia (Noni)". Hawaii Medical Journal. 63 (6): 182–4. 2004. ISSN 0017-8594. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Inhibition of angiogenic initiation and disruption of newly established human vascular networks by juice from Morinda citrifolia (noni)". Angiogenesis. 6 (2): 143–9. 2003. ISSN 0969-6970. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Antitumour potential of a polysaccharide-rich substance from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (Noni) on sarcoma 180 ascites tumour in mice". Phytotherapy Research. 17 (10): 1158–64. 2003. ISSN 0951-418X. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• "Some chemical constituents of Morinda citrifolia". Planta Medica. 36 (2): 186–7. 1979. ISSN 0032-0943. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• Noni Research site
• Phytochemicals in noni
• Critical view and recent news on Noni products