In the stinky noni fruit, many claim all kinds of cures

By Virginia A. Smith

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (KRT) It smells like vomit or rancid cheese. And for a tropical fruit, it sure ain't pretty.

But enterprising entrepreneurs have sweetened the stinky brown liquid from the grenadelike noni fruit and brought forth a miracle elixir that devotees say cures high blood pressure and menstrual cramps, arthritis and depression, cancer, lupus, AIDS, and so on. There's no scientific evidence noni cures anything in humans. No matter. Consumers don't seem to care.

Juice from the foul little fruit has become one of the hottest herbal supplements on the market. Sales in this country have zoomed from $10 million in 1997 to more than $200 million in 2003, with worldwide sales pushing $700 million annually, according to the Nutrition Business Journal, which tracks the industry.

"It's mind-boggling how this has taken off," said Brian F. Issell, an oncologist at the University of Hawaii's Cancer Research Center. Issell is studying dehydrated noni's effects on tumor growth, fatigue, nausea and pain in cancer patients.

Recent studies, mostly animal and laboratory, suggest noni may indeed boost the immune system and contain antioxidants, which are thought to help prevent cancer, heart disease and stroke. But Issell's project is the first credible clinical trial involving humans.

And results will take years.

For Donald J. Mantell and millions of others, the funny-sounding fruit with the outsized legend already is a godsend.

Mantell, a physician with an alternative medicine practice in Sarver, Pa., prescribes the juice, along with vitamins and other nutritional therapies. So it's hard to pinpoint what caused the "significant improvement" he's seen in children with attention deficit disorder or the higher T-cell count — indicating a strengthened immune system — in an AIDS patient. "Noni is definitely part of it," he said.

Once he prescribes the juice to patients, Mantell — a distributor of the Tahitian Noni brand — then sells it to them. (The stuff is not cheap. A 33-ounce bottle could sell for $42, a 40 percent markup for Mantell).

Mantell also has used noni juice himself. He claims that an ounce a day for a month cured his gout and that after his wife applied diluted noni to her eyes, she no longer needed glasses. "I don't have millions of dollars to test it but if a patient is better, if the product is safe and has no side effects, what's the difference if it's real or a placebo?" he asked. "It's very beneficial."

Noni is generally considered safe, but doctors warn that it's high in sugar and potassium, a potential problem for people with diabetes or kidney problems.

And buyers beware: 68 companies sell noni in the United States but, like other dietary supplements, their products are not standardized. There are no guarantees that what you see is what you get or that one company's product is the equivalent of another's.

The market is dominated by Tahitian Noni International in Provo, Utah, which was founded in 1996, and last year reported sales of $502 million in 73 countries. Recently, it began selling in China.

Like many herbal products, noni owes much of its popularity to the Internet. There, hyperbolic testimonials speak to legions of people hungry for a simple cure-all.

Cognizant of federal prohibitions against cure claims, however, manufacturers emphasize their product's role in promoting "wellness," rather than curing disease, said Tahitian vice president Shon Whitney. Here's one example from the Tahitian Web site: "Noni Juice contains compounds that work at the cellular level to actually increase the positive functionality of cells in the body."

In 1998, Morinda, Inc., now the parent company of Tahitian Noni International, reached a $100,000 settlement with four states' attorneys general, including New Jersey, in which the company agreed to stop making miracle claims to cure, treat or prevent disease.

Such claims, which the company blamed on zealous distributors, would have changed noni's legal classification from dietary supplement to new drug, subject to federal regulation.

Tahitian now has 34 compliance officers who monitor what its distributors say. "Unfortunately, that doesn't always stop others," Whitney said of the online testimonials. "People like to talk about their personal experiences."

Wallace I. Sampson, editor of the journal Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and spokesman for the American Cancer Society, calls noni users' ubiquitous healing claims "part of the panacea myth."

"Anything that's good for everything obviously doesn't work for anything," said Sampson, a California oncologist. "Eighty percent of symptoms get better on their own anyway."

Noni juice is extracted from the evergreen Morinda citrifolia or Indian mulberry plant, which has been used for centuries as topical medicine by cultures across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Historically, the leaves were used as bandages or salves for wounds and burns, the roots and bark for inflammation and infection. The knobby fruit served as a poultice.

Newer uses of noni stem mainly from a 1985 article written for the Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden Bulletin by Ralph M. Heinicke, a retired University of Hawaii biochemist who has achieved cult status in the noni world.

He could not be reached.

Heinicke has claimed that noni fruit contains a compound called proxeronine that converts to xeronine, which can regenerate and repair cells to slow aging and treat depression, senility, drug addiction and pain. Most of the other claims — that noni fights cancer, for example — came later.

Noni expert Will C. McClatchey, a University of Hawaii pharmacist and ethnobotanist, called Heinicke's compounds "made up," noting that they cannot be found in the medical literature.

"Noni does not need more white knights supporting it," McClatchey wrote in an e-mail from Hawaii. "It simply needs to have one question clarified by science. What are the biological activities of noni plants that explain the many traditions of usage that make this the most important medicinal plant in the tropical Pacific region?"

Many successful drugs come from plants, among them aspirin, quinine and cancer-treating Taxol. And more researchers now are expected to build on the promising results of noni lab and animal studies.

"Like any good scientist, I would say more work needs to be done," said A. Douglas Kinghorn of Ohio State University, an expert on noni and other botanicals.

Although there are intriguing hints of noni's possible benefits, he said, "I wouldn't say it's the best thing since sliced bread till the evidence is in."