Noni Research and Studies
Herbal and natural products have been used for
centuries throughout the world in every culture.
The scientific community has begun to show more
and more interest in these products as the benefits
become even more well known. Noni began to catch
the eye of researchers worldwide early in this
century, and one by one, studies have revealed
the amazing qualities of the noni fruit.
This fact sheet contains a brief summary and interpretation
of four such studies which are important in understanding
the value of this fruit. This fact sheet will
not attempt to reproduce each study found or reprint
verbatim each study cited.
Dr. Ralph Heinicke
Xeronine and Cell
Regeneration
As a researcher in Hawaii, Dr. Ralph Heinicke
became aware of the marvelous benefits of the
noni Fruit and set out to find the pharmacologically
active ingredient of the noni. Dr. Heinicke had
spent over 45 years studying the effects of an
alkaloid he discovered and named xeronine. Xeronine
is a relatively small alkaloid which is physiologically
very active and important for the proper function
of all cells in the body.
In his research, Dr. Heinicke discovered that
the noni juice contains appreciable amounts of
the precursor of xeronine that he named "pro-xeronine."
Pro-xeronine releases pure xeronine in the intestines
when it comes in contact with a particular enzyme
also found in the noni juice. Dr. Heinicke's theory,
is that when released, xeronine actually works
at the molecular level to repair damaged cells.
Dr. Heinicke states that the primary function
of xeronine is to regulate the rigidity and shape
of specific proteins. Since these proteins have
different functions within the cells, this explains
how the administration of noni juice causes an
unbelievably wide range of physiological responses.
"Some
of the problems which drinking noni juice might
favorably affect are: high blood pressure, menstrual
cramps, arthritis, gastric ulcers, sprains, injuries,
mental depression, senility, poor digestion, atherosclerosis,
blood vessel problems, drug addiction, relief
of pain, and many others. Although this list looks
like a page torn out of a traveling medicine man's
manual, it is probably conservative."
--Dr. Heinicke
AntiCancer Activity
of Morinda citrifolia on Intraperitoneally
Implanted Lewis Lung Carcinoma in Syngenic Mice
A.
Hirazumi, E. Furusawa, S.C. Chou & Y. Hokama,
Proc. West. Pharmacol. Soc. 37: 145-146 (1994)
This is a very significant study by a team
of researchers from the University of Hawaii led
by Annie Hirazumi. Ms. Hirazumi became interested
in the study of the noni fruit because of earlier
experiences with its amazing qualities. Her father
helped a good friend with the juice of the noni
and later, Annie administered the pure noni juice
to a pet dog who was dying. The dog recovered
miraculously, and Annie set out to find out more
about this incredible fruit.
The study by Ms. Hirazumi and her colleagues was
conducted on live laboratory mice (specifically
C57BL6 mice) specifically identified as very receptive
to injected Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells. The mice
were injected with active Lewis Lung Carcinoma
cells (LLC). Untreated, the mice died from 9-12
days after injection from the tumor growth. A
portion of the injected mice were treated with
noni juice in five separate daily treatments.
The noni juice was shown to significantly increase
the life span of the treated mice (from 105%-123%)
with 9 of the 22 mice surviving for more than
50 days. The experiment was repeated on a
different lot of mice with similar results. The
Research Team concluded that the noni juice: "....seems
to act indirectly by enhancing host immune system
involving macrophages and/or lymphocytes."
Induction of Normal
Phenotypes in RAS-transformed cells by Damnacanthal
from Morinda citrifolia
T. Hiramatsu, M. Imoto, T. Koyano, K. Umezawa
Cancer Letters 73 (1993) 161-166
In this study, a team of Japanese researchers
studied the effect of over 500 extracts from tropical
plants on the K-ras-NRK cell (a precursor to certain
types of cancer). The compound, damnacanthal,
found in the Morinda citrifolia (noni), was found
to be an inhibitor of Ras function.
The research: Ras cells were seeded into 96 plates
and incubated at 33 degrees Centigrade for 24
hours. The noni plant extract was added and the
cell morphology was examined every day for 5 days.
The Ras function was inhibited by the injected
plant extract. This same compound has been found
to inhibit the Epstein-Barr virus early-antigen
activation.The extract from the Morinda citrifolia
was found to be most effective in inhibiting Ras
function among the 500 tested extracts.
Analgesic and
Behavioral Effects of Morinda citrifolia
C.
Younos, A. Rolland, J. Fleurentin, M. Lanhers,
R.Misslin, F. Mortier Planta Medica 56 (1990)
430-434
In this study, the team lead by French scientist
Chafique Younos, tested the analgesic and sedative
effects of extracts from the Morinda citrifolia
Plant. They were aware of the traditional use
of the plant as a general analgesic, and set out
to determine if those claims were valid. The extract
was shown to be non-toxic and did "show a
significant, dose-related, central analgesic activity
in the treated mice." This study included
various experiments on the treated mice to determine
the analgesic effect, if any, from the plant extracts
of the Morinda citrifolia (noni). The conclusion
of these researchers was that the extract did
in fact demonstrate analgesic effects consistently
in each experiment. The conclusion of this study
included a simple statement from the authors:
"These findings validate the traditional
analgesic properties of this plant."
Conclusion
The above
represent only a sample of the research completed
on the Morinda citrifolia Plant. The
results are conclusive in each case in showing
the validity of the traditional use of the noni.
