WHILST imported noni (Morinda citrifolia) juice and noni-related health supplements have created a buzz in Malaysia in recent moths, the plant is nothing new to rural Malays who have long discovered its medicinal values.

The Malays commonly use noni or mengkudu to treat variety of ailment. They eat the leaves, young shoots and fruit of the "healing herbs" which they use to make local salads like rojak or kerabu.

Noni leaves are commonly used by women after childbirth to treat flatulence and "return" the womb to its original position.

The essence of the flower is used to treat eye inflammation, while a decoction of the bark is used for dysentery and malarial fever.

The fruit is blended together with the seeds and the juice extract is used as a remedy for a host of ailments, including hypertension, diabetes and rheumatism. The fruit and seeds are consumed by women in confinement.

According to Discover the Secret of Morinda by Dr. De Anna Hatch (http:www.itsnet.com/~treelite/NF/morinda.html), an extract of the root has an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect on animals. The roots can also be helpful in increasing white blood cell (leukocyte) count, and stimulating the endocrine system.

In one study, the amount of leukocytes I mice increased when they were given an extract of noni juice.

Noni root also has anti-congestive property, useful for treating gaemorrhoids, nasal congestion and cerebral hemorrhage.

Noni root also has an anti-congestive property, useful for treating hemorrhoids, nasal congestion and cerebral hemorrhage.

Noni leaves can reduce blood clots and induce menstruation, says Dr. Hatch. They are also use to make a poultice to treat skin ailments and inflammation.

"The fruit has been used as a food source for centuries, especially I famine," she adds.

During World War II, soldiers learnt from native Polynesians that they could eat the fruit to sustain strength. "both the fruit and leaves offer anti-bacterial activity but the ripe fruit shows the most significant activity, even against salmonella, and shigella species of bacteria," Dr. Hatch says on the website.

The noni plant also contains powerful phytonutrients that nourish blood cells, tissues and organs and fight damage caused by aging, pollution and harmful chemicals. For instance, it contains appreciable amounts of the precursor of xeronine which "works at the molecular level to repair damaged cells."

The fruit also appears to stimulate tissue growth and repair, but it works slowly. Thus, it must be taken consistently for a period of six to eight weeks before results can be seen, says Dr. Hatch.

Mustapha Mohamad, superintendent of Universiti Malaya’s Rimba Ilmu, says the common species planted by the Malays are the Morinda citrifolia and Morinda elliptica.

"Healthy trees could live for years and propagate easily with dispersal agents like birds," he says, adding that he had seen noni trees with 0.6m diameter trunks (which could be 60 years old) in Malay villages in Kelantan and Terengganu.

The plant is popularly used in traditional Malay medicines.

Says Mustapha: "Ripe mengkudu fruit tastes sour and slightly bitter. Blend the fruit for its offensive smell. This concoction is recommended for sore throat and high blood pressure."

To treat liver inflammation (bengkak hati) noni juice is mixed with the lempoyang (a rhizome that looks like lengkuas or galangale) juice. This mixture is consumed to improve digestion and urination.

The kampung Malays oil the back of the noni tree with water and drink the liquid to treat dysentery and malarial fever.

"Mengkudu leaves are brushed with oil and put over flame and placed on the chest and stomach region to treat liver inflammation and flatulence," adds Mustapha.

Housewife Zaleha Arrifin, 50, says noni leave and lemon grass are boiled in water and used as a herbal bath by women in confinement to drive out wind.

The leaves are pounded and mixed with chalk and applied on the breast to reduce swelling, especially in the morning. The leaves can also be put over a flame, cloth-wrapped with a heated stone (tungku) and pressed on the stomach daily throughout the pantang (confinement) period of 44 days. Zaleha believes this "pushes the uterus back into its original position."

Beside their external use, the leaves are edible. "The leaves are blanched, sliced finely and tossed with freshly grated coconut for kerabu," says Mustapha. "Unripe fruits can be pickled to make jeruk (pickle) and eaten with sambal,"

Young noni shoots can be blanched and eaten with sambal belasan. Otherwise, the shoots (or shredded young leaves)are eaten with lightly fried grated coconut, sambal belacan and fresh lime or lemon juice. Some people toss in pounded dried prawns to enhance the flavour.

"The fruit can made into rojak. They stink, especially when they ripen and taste a bit bitter," says Zaleha. She would slice ripened fruit squeeze out most of the juice and mix it with sambal belacan, sugar, salt and tamarind (or lime) juice.

Zaleha’s sister Jasmin remembers tucking into spicy salad of young noni shoot as a child. "My grandmother who lived in Terengganu said the dish was good for us. We didn’t really know why, but we enjoyed it."

"At 50, I have no grey hairs yet. It must be due to eating mengkudu now and then" says Zaleha.

A Noni a day….

Zaharah Ahmad Tajuddin, 54. Thinks noni fruit is nature’s gift to motherhood. She at a fruit a day throught her five pregnancies.

"I had to pinch my nose when I ate the awful-smelling fruit. When dipped in salt, it doesn’t taste so bad though," she says. "The seeds of the ripe fruit are edible too. Bite into them and you’ll find that the taste like peppercorns.

According to her, the fruit is "heaty". Eating it during the confiment period helps to revitalises the new mother and put colour back into their cheeks.

Zaharah claims the fruit also help to boost milk production for nursing mothers.

"But it is perfectely healthy to continue taking the fruit after confinement. In modern times, many young Malay mothers are too put off by the pungent fruit to wnt to eat them."

She recalls that when she moved from Perak to Petaling Jaya 30 years ago, her husband looked for noni fruit for her. "In modern housing estate, mengkudu is not so commonly planted. I haven’t eaten mengkudu fruit for 17 years."

The leaves, when adds, can be used to treat swollen testes which sometimes occur in babies and young boys up to five years of age. " The leaves are first warmed on the lid of a hot pot. They are then placed on the testes to bring the selling down."

Businessman Abdul Razak Ali, 47, says his mother would finely shred noni leaves and cook them in a soup with sotong (squids).

"When I first tasted the fruit, I blended it together with honey and the concoction turned out milky. Half and hour after drank it, I could feel my body becoming warm," he says.

He claims that as a result of noni, he no longer has blood in hi stools. However, he warns: "The smaller fruits of another mengkudu species cannot be eaten as they causes dizziness."

Plant investigator S. Nagapapan, 51, of University Malaya’s School of Biology Science, says the Indian community also has uses for the noni plant.

"The leaves are folded a few times with sireh leaves and strung together into ceremonial garland used in Indian wedding. The Indians believe that goodwill will prevail with this ritual," he says.

Some Indians are superstitous about noni, claiming the tree has spirit and that its fruit is forbidden.

Abdul Razak was amused that cows and goats fed with noni fruit gain weight, says Zahari Mohammad Sharif, who distributes Formula Dr. Rodzi, a local noni juice label.

"The fruit is good for the health of these livestock. On the contrary, the adverse odour of the fruit would send rats fleeing!" he adds.

29/07/1999