Siraitia grosvenorii
| Siraitia grosvenorii | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Siraitia grosvenorii (luo han) fruits | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Cucurbitaceae |
| Genus: | Siraitia |
| Species: | S. grosvenorii |
| Binomial name | |
| Siraitia grosvenorii (Swingle) C. Jeffrey ex A.M. Lu & Zhi Y. Zhang | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Momordica grosvenorii Swingle | |
| Siraitia grosvenorii (monkfruit) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 羅漢果 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 罗汉果 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | arhat fruit | ||||||||||||||||
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Siraitia grosvenorii, commonly known as luohan fruit (Chinese: 羅漢果; pinyin: luóhàn guǒ "arhat fruit", also directly: luo han guo/kuo), monk fruit or swingle fruit is a herbaceous perennial vine of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, native to southern China.[1]
The plant is cultivated for its fruit extract containing mogrosides. Mogroside extract has been used as a low-calorie sugar substitute for drinks and in traditional Chinese medicine. One mogroside classified as mogroside V produces a sweet-tasting sensation 250 times stronger than sucrose.[2][3]
Etymology and regional names
[edit]In Buddhism, an arhat is a monk who has attained enlightenment, also described as one who has attained the "fruition of arhatship" (Sanskrit: arhattaphala);[4] this thus was partially calqued as 羅漢果 luóhàn guǒ (plus rendered into Vietnamese as la hán quả), the Chinese name was adopted as the Western commercial designation for this fruit.[5]
The genus name Siraitia was named by American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill for his colleague Sirait Sawek, a Thai botanist who collected specimens in Southeast Asia.[citation needed]
The species name grosvenorii honors Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, who, as president of the National Geographic Society, helped to fund an expedition in the 1930s to find the living plant in China where it was already being cultivated.[6]
History and distribution
[edit]Monk fruit was first mentioned in the 13th century off Chinese monastic records in Guangxi in the region of Guilin.[4] The difficulty of cultivation meant the fruit did not become part of the Chinese herbal tradition which depended on more readily available products.[citation needed]
The first English botanical description of monk fruit was published in 1941 by Walter T. Swingle.[7] The first publication identifying the sweet compound in monk fruit as a novel glycoside was authored by C. H. Lee in 1975.[8] In 1983, T. Takemoto et al. published independent research into the sweet compounds in monk fruit, naming the primary component "mogroside V" and related novel components "mogroside IV" and "mogroside VI".[9]
The development of luohan fruit products in China has continued ever since, focusing in particular on the development of concentrated extracts.[4]
Description
[edit]
The vine attains a length of 3 to 5 m (9.8 to 16 ft), climbing over other plants by means of tendrils which twine around anything they touch. The narrow, heart-shaped leaves are 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long. The fruit is round or oblong, 4–8 cm (1.6–3.1 in) in diameter, smooth and yellow-brown in color.[10] The inside of the fruit contains an edible pulp. When dried, it forms a thin, light brown, brittle shell about 1 mm in thickness. The seeds are pale yellow and broadly ovate.[10]
The interior fruit is eaten fresh, and the rind is used to make tea.
The monkfruit is notable for its sweetness, which can be concentrated from its juice. The fruit contains 25–38% of various carbohydrates, mainly fructose and glucose. The sweetness of the fruit is increased by the mogrosides, a group of triterpene glycosides (saponins). The five different mogrosides are numbered from I to V; the main component is mogroside V, which is also known as esgoside.[4]
Mogroside biosynthesis
[edit]One analysis of 200 candidate genes of Siraitia grosvenorii revealed five enzyme families involved in the synthesis of mogroside V: squalene epoxidases, triterpenoid synthases, epoxide hydrolases, cytochrome P450s, and UDP-glucosyltransferases.[2] The metabolic pathway for mogroside biosynthesis involves an initial stage of fruit development when squalene is metabolized to di-glucosylated, tetra-hydroxycucurbitadienols, then during fruit maturation, branched glucosyl groups are added and catalyzed, leading to the sweet M4, M5, and M6 mogrosides.[2]
Cultivation
[edit]Germination of seeds is slow and may take several months. It is grown primarily in the far southern Chinese province of Guangxi (mostly in the mountains near Guilin), as well as in Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, and Jiangxi.[4] These mountains lend the plants shade and often are surrounded by mists which protect the plants from the sun. Nonetheless, the climate in this southern province is warm. The plant is rarely found in the wild, and has been cultivated for hundreds of years.[4]
Records as early as 1813 mention the cultivation of this plant in the Guangxi province.[4] Most of the plantations are located in Yongfu County and Lingui County.[4]
Traditional processing
[edit]
Harvested luohan fruit are green, which is kept to dry until it browns[4] for a longer shelf life; th brown dried fruit is the usual sold in Chinese herbal shops. The fruits can be dried slowly in ovens, preserving them and removing most of the unwanted aromas. However, this technique also leads to formation of several bitter and astringent flavors. limiting its use and extracts to the preparation of diluted tea, soup, and as a sweetener for products that would usually have sugar or honey added to them.[11]
Commercial manufacturing
[edit]The process for the manufacture of a useful sweetener from luo han guo was patented in 1995 by Procter & Gamble.[12] The patent states that luo han fruit has many interfering flavors caused by sulfurous volatile substances such as hydrogen disulfide, methional, methionol, dimethylsulfide, and methylmercaptan, which are formed from amino acids that contain sulfur, such as methionine, S-methylmethionine, cystine, and cysteine; those which render it useless for general applications. This patent describes a process to remove them.[12]
Sweetening agent
[edit]The sweet taste of the fruit comes mainly from mogrosides,[2] a group of triterpene glycosides that make up about 1% of the flesh of the fresh fruit.[4] Through solvent extraction, a powder containing 80% mogrosides can be obtained, the main one being mogroside-5 (esgoside).[4] Other similar agents in the fruit are siamenoside and neomogroside.[4]
In this process, the peel and seeds are removed, and the pulped fruit is made into a concentrate or puree.[12] Additional juice may be extracted from the remaining pulp with hot water. The juice is homogenized, acidified slightly to prevent gelling and improve the flavor, then treated with pectinase or other enzymes to break down the pectin. Most of the off-flavor agents are then removed with ion-exchange resins, such as sulfonated polystyrene-divinylbenzene copolymer or polyacrylic acid. Alternatively, the off-flavors can be adsorbed by agents like charcoal or bentonite, which are removed by filtration; or precipitated with gelatin or other gelling agents. Most of the remaining sulfurous volatiles are then removed by low-pressure evaporation.[12] The juice is then pasteurized to inactivate remaining natural enzymes and kill microorganisms.
The process is claimed to preserve a substantial fraction of the mogrosides present in the fruit,[12] with the resulting sweetness at a level about 250 times stronger than sucrose.[2][3]
Safety
[edit]At least one generally recognized as safe (GRAS) notice has been received by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[13] The FDA granted GRAS certification to Siraitia grosvenorii extracts/processed products in 2011.[14]
In Europe, it is classified as an unapproved novel food (not used in the food system before May 1997) which means that it may be marketed as a food or food ingredient only after a safety assessment and approval by the European Commission. In 2019, the EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (FAF) was asked by the European Commission to provide its scientific opinion on the safety of monkfruit extract as a food additive. The panel concluded that the current body of research was insufficient.[15] As of 2023, Siraitia grosvenorii was not listed among approved Novel Foods in the EU.[16][17]
Traditional uses
[edit]The plant is most prized for use of its sweet fruit as a sweetener.[18] In traditional Chinese medicine, it is used for cough and sore throat.[4][5] The fruits are generally sold in dried form, and used in herbal tea or soup.
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Siraitia grosvenorii (Swingle) C.Jeffrey ex A.M.Lu & Zhi Y.Zhang". Plants of the World, KEW, Royal Botanic Gardens. 2023. Archived from the original on 16 April 2025. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Itkin, M.; Davidovich-Rikanati, R.; Cohen, S.; et al. (2016). "The biosynthetic pathway of the nonsugar, high-intensity sweetener mogroside V from Siraitia grosvenorii". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113 (47): E7619–E7628. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113E7619I. doi:10.1073/pnas.1604828113. PMC 5127336. PMID 27821754.
- 1 2 "Aspartame and Other Sweeteners in Food". US Food and Drug Administration. 27 February 2025. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Dharmananda, Subhuti (January 2004). "Luo han guo: Sweet fruit used as sugar substitute and medicinal herb". Institute for Traditional Medicine Online. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
- 1 2 Ling Yeouruenn (1995). A New Compendium of Materia Medica. Beijing: Science Press.[page needed]
- ↑ Walter T. Swingle (1941). "Momordica grosvenori sp. nov.: The source of the Chinese Lo Han Kuo". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 22 (2): 197–203. doi:10.5962/p.183529. S2CID 90949182. Archived from the original on 26 May 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- ↑ Smith, A. C. (1968) [1941]. "Momordica grosvenori sp. nov.: The Source of the Chinese Lo Han Kuo". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 22. Jamaica Plain, MA: Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University: 197–203.
- ↑ Lee, Chi-Hang (1 May 1975). "Intense sweetener from Lo Han Kuo (Momordica grosvenori)". Experientia. 31 (5): 533–534. doi:10.1007/BF01932442. ISSN 0014-4754. PMID 1140247.
- ↑ Takemoto, Tsunematsu; Arihara, Shigenobu; Nakajima, Tadashi; Okuhira, Megumi (1983). 羅漢果の成分研究(第1報)甘味成分の検索 [Studies on the Constituents of Fructus Momordicae. I. On the Sweet Principle]. Yakugaku Zasshi (in Japanese). 103 (11): 1151–1154. doi:10.1248/yakushi1947.103.11_1151. PMID 6676453.
- 1 2 "Siraitia grosvenorii in Flora of China @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ↑ Hsu HY, et al., Oriental Materia Medica, 1986 Oriental Healing Arts Institute, Long Beach, California [page needed]
- 1 2 3 4 5 Downton GE; et al. (2 May 1995). "Process and composition for sweet juice from cucurbitaceae fruit, patent number US 5411755 A". US Patent and Trademark Office; assignee: The Procter & Gamble Co. Archived from the original on 21 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
- ↑ GRAS Notification (GRN) 522 for the use of (Siraitia grosvenori) Luo Han Guo fruit extract, 2014
- ↑ Huang H, Peng Z, Wang W (2024). "A comprehensive review of Siraitia grosvenorii (Swingle) C. Jeffrey: chemical composition, pharmacology, toxicology, status of resources development, and applications". Frontiers in Pharmacology. 15 1388747. doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1388747. PMC 11024725. PMID 38638866.
- ↑ Younes, Maged; Aquilina, Gabriele; Engel, Karl-Heinz; et al. (19 December 2019). "Safety of use of Monk fruit extract as a food additive in different food categories". EFSA Journal. 17 (12): e05921. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5921. PMC 7008860. PMID 32626208.
- ↑ "Search; Siraitia grosvenorii". Novel Food Catalogue, European Commission. Archived from the original on 26 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ↑ "Notification 2022.6769 - Novel Food ingredient Monkfruit (Luo Han Guo, Siraitia grosvenorii) in food supplement". webgate.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ↑ Kinghorn AD, Soejarto DD (2002). "Discovery of terpenoid and phenolic sweeteners from plants". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 74 (7): 1169–1179. Bibcode:2002PApCh..74.1169K. doi:10.1351/pac200274071169. S2CID 85880304.
External links
[edit]
Data related to Siraitia grosvenorii at Wikispecies
Media related to Siraitia grosvenorii at Wikimedia Commons
