fitness news
,
Font size Women’s Health
Cook Islands “Noni Juice” Health Benefits
– Reported, April 04, 2012
None is the Cook Islands name for what we here call “Noni”. In the Cook Islands the fruit has been used medicinally for hundreds of years. Botanically the fruit is called: Morinda Citrifolia. It grows on a shrub type tree and the size of the fruit is about the same size as a medium avocado pear. The skin has warts on it similar to a pomegranate. The shrub shows fruit some 10 months after planting. It reaches maturity in about 18 months and then yields between 4 to 8kg of fruit every month, all year round. Although the most significant nutrient feature of noni pulp powder or juice is its high vitamin C content, this level in TNJ provides only about half the vitamin C of a raw navel orange.
There are now approximately 300 companies marketing noni juice in a global market estimated at more than $2 billion annually. Sold in capsule form, pulp powder was the first noni product brought to the commercial market in Hawaii by Herbert Moniz of Herb’s Herbs in 1992 after patenting a unique noni dehydrating method.
Each of us is unique in terms of age, health status, and tolerance for different types of medicines. At any given moment there are thousands of chemical reactions taking place within our bodies. This accounts for a wide variety of individual reactions to Noni. Some people will notice a difference immediately, while others may take longer to experience the benefits. Noni juice does have a few benefits, none of them with medical validation though. here are a short list of some of the benefits you can expect:
Improvement of overall health and well being
A boost of the bodys natural immune system
Support of the bodys natural healing processes
Improves absorption of nutrients from food
Aids the body to rid itself of harmful free radicals
Increased energy during physical performance
Noni juice needs to be taken regularly on a daily basis and hence its taste is important to sustained disciplined consumption. Removing the inherent taste and smell of Noni juice is a trade secret since this knowledge is not easily acquired. As a result almost all Noni juices are mixed with other fruit juices to override its unpleasant taste and smell.
Because of the number of people who began taking noni juice based on the marketers’ claims, issues began to be tracked more closely that involved juice taking. Two separate studies in 2005 found that noni juice was causing acute hepatitis – a liver disease – in those who consumed it. Further studies are being done in 2006 to try to track down exactly what aspect of the noni juice is causing this harm. No noni products have achieved sufficient scientific foundation for being licensed as medicines or therapies. Companies today must still apply to the European Commission for Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General to have their own brand of noni juice included as a novel food under the initial approval
Ancient manuscripts call the different glands in the body seals, and by a seal, we mean something which opens and closes. Ancient medical literature states that the glands actually operate according to frequency, a term which is becoming very popular these days in nuclear and quantum physics. The frequency of the glands was known thousands of years ago, but we have forgotten much of this information. In ancient terms, the pineal gland was called the sixth seal or sixth gland of the body. We have recently discovered that it stimulates two major hormones called serotonin and melatonin. The pineal gland controls the five other glands below it which are the thyroid which produces thyroxine to energize our cells, the thymus which protects you against infections and cancer, the pancreas which is involved with blood sugar and secreting the hormone insulin, the adrenal gland which responds every time you are under stress; and the first gland is the male and female sex organs and their hormones. Therefore restoring the sixth gland, the pineal gland, will have an impact on all those other glands and their functions in the body. When the pineal gland is at its peak performance, it turns a golden colour and emits a black juice as well as a golden oil. That black juice would be the melanin colour of the organs and every other area of the body which has a pigment.
It happens that Noni juice mimics the secretion coming from the pineal gland, and in fact acts as a precursor to it, building it up and allowing it to function fully. Noni juice has a black colour, very similar to the melanin that gives colour or pigment to each one of our organs. Every place our body contains this pigment will be affected by Noni juice.
The back of the eye has a black area called the macula which is pigmented with melanin. That is the area the light hits when your eye opens. Many people have difficulty with blindness because they no longer make that beautiful colour in that spot. We have noted the Noni juice makes the macula generate more pigment and the cells begin to return to normal, and the blindness reverses itself.
In the brain, that black stain is found in an area of the mid-brain called the substantia nigra, nigra standing for black. Diseases related to that area occur when it no longer receives pigment and begins to deteriorate. Diseases in this category are multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Appropriate function of the pineal gland is important in restoring those cells, and we are seeing patients reversing some of their neurological problems because the Noni juice is stimulating the production of chemicals essential to those areas of the brain.
The pancreas is also affected by Noni juice: the blood sugar and blood pressure begin to normalize. The pineal gland affects the different organs all the way down to the first glands, the male and female sex organs, and people are noticing for example that their prostate glands are beginning to shrink down to normal size once they have been on the Noni juice for a short period of time. Women who have problems with their uterus or with fibroids etc. are noticing that the fibroids are beginning to disappear, that their menstruation is beginning to normalize, they have less cramps and their bleeding problems become more in balance.
In August 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a Warning Letter to Flora, Inc. for violating section 201(g)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) [21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)]. Flora made twelve unfounded health claims about the purported benefits of noni juice as a medical product, in effect causing the juice to be evaluated as a drug. Under the Act, this necessitates all safety and clinical trial evidence for the juice providing such effects in humans.[1]
The FDA letter also cited 1) absent scientific evidence for health benefits of noni phytochemicals, scopoletin, and damnacanthal, neither of which has been confirmed with biological activity in humans, and lack of scientific foundation for health claims made by two proponents of noni juice, Dr. Isabella Abbot and Dr. Ralph Heinicke.
Two other FDA letters have been issued for the same types of violations.
In the European Union, after safety testing on one particular brand of noni juice (Tahitian Noni), approval was granted in 2002 as a novel food by the European Commission for Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General,In their report, the European Commission’s Scientific Committee made no endorsement of health claims.
No M. citrifolia products have achieved sufficient scientific foundation for being licensed as medicines or therapies. Companies today must still apply to the European Commission for Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General to have their own brand of noni juice included as a novel food under the initial approval.
Health and research problems
In 2005, two scientific publications described incidents of acute hepatitis caused by ingesting M. citrifolia. One study suggested the toxin to be anthraquinones, found in roots, leaves and fruit of the M. citrifolia,while the other named juice as the delivery method.
This was, however, followed by a publication showing that noni juice 1) is not toxic to the liver even when consumed in high doses, and 2) contains low quantities of anthraquinones, which are potentially toxic to liver tissue.
The case reports of hepatitis were reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), wherein it was concluded that no causal link could be established.The potential for toxicity caused by noni juices remains under surveillance by EFSA, individual food safety authorities in France,Finlandand Ireland, and medical investigators in Germany.A review of toxicity tests and the safety issues surrounding noni juice has been published.
The Physicians Desk Reference (“PDR”) for Non-Prescription Drugs and Dietary Supplements lists only one particular commercial brand of noni juice, with no side-effects mentioned. Consumers of noni juice are advised to carefully check labels for warnings, which may say “Not safe for pregnant women” or “Keep out of reach of children.”
Some commercial brands of noni juice may be high in potassium[citation needed]. While potassium is a valuable nutrient in a normal diet, persons with advanced kidney disease cannot excrete it properly and should avoid noni juice, which has been known to cause hyperkalemia. Of related significance is a report showing high variability in mineral contents between various brands of noni juice.
Athletes intending to use noni juice to supplement their diet should be aware that two brands of noni juice are listed on ConsumerLab.com’s “Athletic Banned Substance Screening Program” as having been screened for substances on the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List.
Preliminary medical research
The genus Morinda (of which M. citrifolia is a species) has attracted limited medical research, with 145 papers published since 1994 and 55 since 2006(search “noni” and “morinda”; PubMed search, January 2008). Despite the large market for juice products and research developments, the nutrient and phytochemical profiles of M. citrifolia have not been extensively studied and remain poorly related to potential health benefits.
The numerous health claims made in noni juice marketing are not supported by significant scientific agreement and only one human cancer study completed under NIH peer-review in 2006 has been conducted, the results of which remain unpublished and unconfirmed as of February 2012.
In a university-based pilot study funded by the noni juice manufacturer, Tahitian Noni International, Inc., it was reported that noni juice consumption may lower blood cholesterol levels but the results of this study completed in 2006 were never published and met skepticism by experts.
Laboratory studies of M. citrifolia’s effect on tumors in mice include evidence for reduced growth of capillaries in tumor explants. One study showed noni juice to lower the number of DNA adducts in rats induced with a carcinogen and also showed antioxidant properties of noni juice compared with those of vitamin C, grape seed powder, and pycnogenol. Reductions in DNA adducts and lowering of free radicals by noni juice were shown in blood samples from heavy smokers.Further studies of whether such effects occur in other animal models or in cancer patients have not been published.
Preliminary experiments showed that noni juice may affect physical endurance of mice and athletes.
For more Cook Islands News Click Here
