Morinda citrifolia
| Great morinda, Noni | |
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| Leaves, flowers, and fruit of Morinda citrifolia | |
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| Species: | M. citrifolia
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| Binomial name | |
| Morinda citrifolia | |
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.
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.
In the year 2005 two scientific publicattions described three incidents of acute hepatitis caused by a noni preparation. Therefore the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) initiated an evaluation process if a new evaluation of noni products is required. In Germany the national agency for risk evaluation (BfR) reviews a case of acute hepatitis which may be caused by noni products since the beginning of 2006.
Legal aspects
The FDA has not approved any of the statements regarding noni juice and related substances, because there have been no clinical studies substantiating these benefits of noni. If there were medical or therapeutic effects, they have to be validated in clinical studies, and the product had to be approved by the FDA. Since there is no FDA-registration of any Noni product, no medical or therapeutic effects from noni products may be claimed.
The US Food and Drug Administration recently sent a warning letter to one company promoting noni juice in the context of various testimonials. The FDA letter to Hawaiian Island Noni stated that the product “being offered is promoted for conditions that cause the product to be a drug” under FDA legislation and therefore the company may not market the drug in the US without first getting FDA’s approval “on the basis of scientific data submitted” by the company showing the ‘drug’ is safe and effective.
Marketing a dietary supplement with express or implied claims to prevent, treat, mitigate, cure, or diagnose a specific disease, or class of diseases, violates the Act unless FDA has authorized the claim in accordance with applicable health claim regulations. [1] [2]
In the European Union only noni juice is legally registered as 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 forbidden to claim any medical or therapeutic effects from any noni products within the EU since they are not approved by a competent authority.
Xeronine
Xeronine claimed to be the biologically active component in Noni products. But 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.
References
Scientific literature
- Millonig G, Stadlmann S, Vogel W 2005, Herbal hepatotoxicity: acute hepatitis caused by a Noni preparation (Morinda citrifolia), European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology 17, 445-447
- Stadlbauer V, Fickert P, Lackner C, Schmerlaib J, Krisper P, Trauner M, Stauber RE 2005, Hepatotoxicity of NONI juice: Report of two cases, World Journal of Gastroenterology 11, 4758-4760
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