Superfoods: Noni FruitBy Adrian Nadler [Nutrition & Diet]
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Are the healing properties of noni fruit all they are purported to be? Adrian Nadler takes a look at the claims being made about this so-called miracle food.  Is there such a thing as a miracle food? One that can prevent disease and prevent cancer? An informed consumer ought to be aware that some savvy (or ruthless) business people will always be trying to cash in on the human tendency for an easy health solution. There are no quick fixes, however, and any company promising them is just out to make a quick buck.The Hype Checklist Continuing from our previous look at the fruits goji and acai, let us check right off the top whether noni fruit fits the same profile: It is grown in exotic parts of the world, where it is used in local/folk medicine. Check. Noni is native to many parts of the world, including Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Since it’s cheap and plentiful, noni has been used as a diet staple by locals, but because of its bitter taste and strong smell, it is more often used as herbal medicine. Traditionally, noni was used to regulate or maintain good blood circulation and to treat joint and muscle pain, skin problems, digestion disorders and infections. It is sold in expensive, flashy and unnecessary packaging. Check. As with acai, noni is packaged like wine in glass bottles. One litre of noni juice goes for around $40. It is marketed as a cure-all. Check. In the book, The Noni Revolution by Rita Elkins, the author describes how different parts of the plant can be used for basically every aspect of health, serving as an antihistamine, an anti-inflammatory and analgesic. It reduces blood pressure, corrects digestive problems leading to weight loss, has antioxidant properties and can regulate diabetes. The largest noni juice company, branded Tahitian Noni, also sells it as a cosmetic product for healthy skin and hair. It boasts special nutrient content used as the basis for extraordinary claims, with no solid medical research to back it up. Check. More on this below. Noni Fact and Fiction The biggest claim of noni juice is that it can fight cancer. Elkins states so in her book and Tahitian Noni does as well, with research to back it up. Looking at a very legitimate list of medical research papers cited on their website, it is hard to argue that noni does not, at least, have some “anti-cancer” properties. On the other hand, if you look at the American Cancer Society’s webpage, you’ll see that they advise not to rely on noni for treatment of any health problem, as it’s still unproven. As they point out, all of the research showing the “polysaccharide-rich substance” in noni helping to degenerate tumours in mice really doesn’t prove anything of the sort in humans. The business people can’t be blamed though; from a marketing perspective, all a company like Tahitian Noni is doing is making the most of some legitimate medical research about their product. Any smart businessman would do that and a particularly clever one has based an entire brand of healthy alternative lifestyle products on the potential, yet dubious, claims of noni as a healing superfood. |
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