A juice for many ailments

First learned about noni juice when I was in Jamaica in May last year. Someone I met there revealed that he had a cancer-stricken friend who after taking noni juice felt it helped, and his cancer was now in remission.

I asked another Jamaican about the juice and she confirmed that it had become a much sought after item in her country despite the exorbitant price. The product came from the US but the fruit itself was harvested in Tahiti.

A few months after I came home, a close relative of mine was diagnosed with cancer. I mentioned to the family what I’d heard about noni juice, but at the time it wasn’t marketed here. Only in January this year did the company that first put the juice on the world market set up office in Malaysia, but by then my relative had passed on.

I was quite excited that noni, known by the scientific name of Morinda citrifolia, had arrived here, and sought to find out more about it. From the literature available, mainly the booklet Liquid Island Noni: The Tropical Fruit with 101 Medicinal Uses, by Dr Neil Solomon, a US physician and researcher, it seems that noni does not only help cancer patients but also those suffering from a range of ailments.

Heading the list of ailments that can be helped, from Dr Solomon’s research involving doctors and health professionals who dealt with several thousand patients on noni, are digestive problems (89 per cent), high blood pressure (87), diabetes types 1 and 2 (83), arthritis (80), and heart disease (80).

I recently checked with a few people who have been taking noni regularly since it was made available here, to find out how it had affected them. A couple of them said it had brought real relief to their arthritic pains. Someone said he was no longer bothered by constipation. Another testified that it had immensely improved her immunity and cited a case where she got rid of a cold within a day by drinking a substantial dose of noni.

All these people were unanimous in saying that they felt more energetic, and one man even said he felt an improvement in his sexual performance because of increased stamina.

Of late, there has been much highlighting of noni in the Malaysian Press. Adding to the excitement is Mardi’s recent revelation that it intends to exploit the local variety of noni, called mengkudu, which has been used in instances of healing by Malays, and market it internationally.

Amidst the touting of noni’s wonders have been one or two expressions of scepticism, such as over the fact that there have been no proper clinical trials conducted with humans to verity noni’s efficacy.

To be sure, the basis of belief in noni’s healing properties is founded on a theory. This is the theory of Dr Ralph Heinicke whose research into pineapples and then noni led to his discovery of an alkaloid that he calls xeronine, which he believes improves the body’s ability to make use of nutrients and also helps repair damaged cells and stimulate tissue growth.

Xeronine is produced from a biochemical reaction involving the compounds proxeronine, proxerinase and serotonin. But proxeronine is in short supply in our body. Thus, when there is an urgent need for more xeronine due to any major stress, illness, emotional problems, fungal infections, the body can falter due to this lack of proxeronine. This is where noni can help because, according to Dr Heinicke, noni contains an abundance of proxeronine.

There may indeed be a lot of truth in Dr Henicke’s theory, but that should not prompt anyone to accept it as being scientifically conclusive. Noni should be treated as a food supplement, not a miracle cure. It should not be employed as a substitute for medication. This, in fact, is emphasised by Dr Neil Solomon, who feels that may actually work "in concert" with medication to provide relief.

Over enthusiastic marketers of noni may however get carried away and make unsubstantiated claims of noni as a cure-all. This was what led the Food and Drug Administration of Finland to view noni with some apprehension last year. It however did not ban the product. Four States in the US have also been reportedly moved to bring noni distributors to firmer reality.

Here in Malaysia, the marketing of the Tahitian noni juice is also done through direct selling. The effect of this on the consumer is that he or she has to buy it at a price that will go towards rewarding a lot of people up and down the multi-level marketing line. Yet even so, sales of the Tahitian noni juice in Malaysia have reportedly risen dramatically despite the economic downturn.

Given this lucrative scenario, alternative juice producers have already squeezed themselves into the market. When Mardi is eventually ready to step in, the market will be awash with juice choice. In addition, noni is being offered in the form of powder and capsules by other companies. This naturally leads to the question:Which forms is the best to take?

Other nagging questions arise: Which juice is of the best quality, certified to contain abundant proxeronine? Which manufacturer guarantees quality control in the harvesting of the fruit and thee bottling of the juice? Which product comes with evidence that it contains safe levels of heavy-metal toxins?

In terms of the fruit, the Tahitian noni is said to be top-notch. This is because it grows in relatively unpolluted areas and on volcanic soil that is rich in nutrients. There is also a history of medicinal use of noni in South Pacific.

In this soon-to-be-released follow-up book, Noni: Nature’s Amazing Healer, Dr Solomon tells us that South Pacific healers (kahunas) consider noni a sacred fruit.

Source : New Straits Times, 10.8.99