Goji & Noni: Review of Traditional Medicinal Juices

References

After reviewing information on various Web sites and from brochures of some multi-level marketing companies, gullible readers might believe that the traditional medicinal juices goji and noni are panaceas, capable of curing any disease or medical condition known to mankind. A more discriminating reader, however, might examine the claims being made with a more skeptical eye.

While there is value associated with the use of goji and noni juices, it is hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the myriad health claims being made about them. The purpose of this article is to provide readers with a comprehensive review of the scientific data and traditional (historical) use of goji and noni, in order to help consumers make an informed decision about whether the use of these products is appropriate for them.

Goji, Lycium barbarum, has a long history of medicinal use, both as a general energy restoring tonic tea from its leaves and as a remedy for a wide range of ailments from skin rashes and eyesight problems to diabetes.¹ Also, a sweet tonic decoction made from the fruits was used to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, as well as impact eyesight, vertigo, impotence and menopausal complaints;² it is said to act mainly on the liver and kidneys.^3,4

The fruit is harvested when fully ripe and the bark is harvested in the winter; both can be dried for later use.⁵ The root bark is a bitter, cooling, antibacterial herb that controls coughs and lowers fevers, blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels.^6,7 It is taken internally in the treatment of chronic fevers, internal hemorrhages, nosebleeds, tuberculosis, coughs and asthma, and can be used externally to treat genital itching.⁸

Goji is rich in natural phytochemicals including polysaccharides,⁹ flavonoids¹⁰ and zeaxanthin.¹¹ Research has shown goji contains other carotenoids, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, thiamine, nicotinic acid, glycocojugates, several monosaccharides and 17 amino acids.¹² Other research has shown goji contains a novel stable precursor of ascorbic acid called 2-O-(beta-Dglucopyranosyl) ascorbic acid.¹³

Traditionally, goji has been used as a berry juice. Translating a juice into a dietary supplement, however, may not be as simple as it seems, since the juice would have to be pasteurized for stability in processing. Since pasteurization involves heating, it is possible the juice might not retain some of its same traditional properties. A better choice might be to prepare an extract of goji—a preparation method used in herbal medicine for thousands of years. Also, an extract can be standardized for goji’s polysaccharide fraction (LBP). This is significant because a substantial amount of the scientific research on goji was conducted on LBP. Furthermore, the liquid can be evaporated out of an extract, which allows the remaining concentrate to be put into a tablet or capsule form for convenience of administration.

Goji has been studied in a number of health areas. Take the area of immune function and cancer. Scientists can produce large numbers of active, cancer-fighting T cells in the lab by treating a small number of T cells in a test tube with a cytokine (an immune system hormone) called interleukin-2 (IL-2). After being returned to a patient’s bloodstream, these special cells, called lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, are more effective against cancer cells.¹⁴

What does this have to do with goji? Consider that advanced cancer patients in a clinical trial were treated with LAK/IL-2 combined with LBP.¹⁵ Initial results of the treatment from 75 patients indicated that regression of cancer was achieved in patients with malignant melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, lung cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and malignant hydrothorax. The results indicate that LBP can be used as an adjuvant in the biotherapy of cancer.

In addition to this clinical study, animal research has shown benefits from LBP in combination with cancer therapy. When given to mice with Lewis lung cancer that were treated with radiation, the LBP had radiosensitizing effects, enhancing the actions of radiation against the cancer.¹⁶ Furthermore, the LBP had low toxicity. Another mouse study found giving LBP to animals treated with chemotherapy or radiation largely ameliorated the suppression of white blood cells (WBC), which can result in a weakened immune response.¹⁷

Goji’s exact mechanism of action for having these synergistic effects with cancer therapies is not known for certain. However, it may have to do with its immune-enhancing properties. These properties were demonstrated in an in vitro study where LBP increased the production of the immune system proteins IL-2 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha.²⁰ Likewise, in another in vitro study, goji extract increased the production of lymphocytes (important white blood cells involved in immunity).²¹

Goji is rich in antioxidants. In one study, goji flavonoids (TFL, or Total Flavonoids of Lycium) were shown to protect red blood cells and mitochondria (the energy producing structures in cells) from oxidative damage.²² Similarly, TFL were shown to protect certain white blood cells from oxidative damage,²³ and LBP have been found to promote the survival of human fibroblasts.²⁴ Goji is also rich in the antioxidant carotenoid zeaxanthin, which may promote eye health,²⁵ and the zeaxanthin in goji is well absorbed by humans.²⁶

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), goji has been used for treating diabetes mellitus and its complications.²⁷ Modern animal research has verified goji’s blood sugar lowering effects and has suggested its antioxidant properties may protect against diabetic complications.²⁸

Still, goji has other beneficial properties. The results of one study suggested goji can serve as a potential neuroprotective agent against neuronal death in Alzheimer’s disease.²⁹ Other animal research has shown goji protects DNA from damage,³⁰ and accelerates the rate of DNA synthesis.³¹ Goji has liver protection properties comparable to that of milk thistle.³² Also, LBP induced a remarkable adaptability to exercise load, enhanced resistance and accelerated elimination of fatigue while enhancing the storage of muscle and liver glycogen.³³

While goji is supported by excellent research, an extensive literature search failed to find scientific evidence to support marketing claims that goji is the fountain of youth, or the most powerful anti-aging food, or that it is the most nutritionally dense food on the planet.

Traditions of Noni

Indigenous to Southeast Asia, Noni (Morinda citrifolia) was domesticated and cultivated by Polynesians. Today, noni ranges from Tahiti to India, and grows in the Caribbean, South America and the West Indies. Noni has an extensive history of effective medicinal use by many of the aforementioned cultures, despite the fact that, when fully ripe, it has a rancid smell and a taste sometimes described as “cheesy”.

In traditional plant-based medicine, the fruit, flower, leaves, bark and root of Morinda citrifolia have all been employed for diverse medicinal purposes. In Polynesia, noni leaves have a long history of topical use in poultices and mixed with oil for the treatment of rheumatic pain, inflammation, neuralgia, ulcers, gout, cough and cold, boils and ringworm. In Hawaii, the leaves of the tree were mashed with other plants and applied to deep wounds.

The Hawaiians also made a digestive aid with crushed noni fruit by combining it with cane juice. And the fruit was part of cleansing formulas, which also included cane juice and other plants. By the 1930s, noni fruit was used more widely for internal purposes, including intestinal worms, weakness and respiratory disorders. Since that time, the juice of the ripe fruit has also been used as a folk remedy to help stabilize blood sugar in cases of adult diabetes.³⁴

The phytochemical content of noni fruit, or at least what is understood of it, only goes so far to justify the health claims currently being made. The fruit contains a concentration of anthraquinones, including damnacanthal, which possess purgative activity. This may account for the “cleansing” effect described by many users. Certainly in cases of sluggish digestion and slow moving bowels, noni can exert a stimulating and, therefore, beneficial effect, helping to increase peristalsis and cleanse the colon. Noni fruit also contains a concentration of vitamin A, as well as the fatty acid octanoic acid. Analysis shows the presence of numerous other fatty acids as well, including linoleic, oleic, acetic and palmitic acids. The fruit contains esters, ketones, lactones and alcohols. The presence of these agents, or synergy between them, may prove additionally antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and immune-enhancing.

There is some controversy over delivery form. In Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia, noni is put into a container, where it quickly decomposes and ferments. The pungent amber juice that remains at the top of the fermented fruit is consumed daily as a prophylactic. But most people don’t have access to fresh fermented noni juice. The question is, therefore, how to translate noni effectively into products that work far away from the islands. Although further studies on the various forms of noni— dried, freeze-dried or liquid—need to be performed to establish efficacy, at this time the most sensible alternative to fresh noni juice is freeze-dried noni. The freeze-dried form seems most likely to replicate the phytochemical constituents in fresh noni and, consequently, its medicinal value.

Like goji, noni has also been shown to have anti-cancer and immune-enhancing properties. In research conducted on cancerous mice, noni juice was able to significantly increase the life span of the treated mice from 105 percent to 123 percent.³⁵ The research team concluded noni juice, “seems to act indirectly by enhancing the host immune system involving macrophages and/or lymphocytes.” In another study, the compound damnacanthal was found to inhibit Ras cells—a precursor to certain types of cancer.³⁶ Most recently, research has shown that a polysaccharide found in noni, noni-ppt, has anti-tumor activity; when combined with sub-optimal doses of standard chemotherapeutic agents, noni-ppt improved survival time and demonstrated curative effects in mice.³⁷

Noni has been used traditionally as an analgesic (pain reliever) and sedative. To test these uses scientifically, researchers conducted various experiments on mice, and found noni did, in fact, demonstrate significant, non-toxic, analgesic activity and sedative properties.³⁸ The authors concluded, “These findings validate the traditional analgesic properties of this plant.”

The herb also has been used traditionally to treat bruises, sprains and other external injuries. This topical use of noni is supported by recent research that confirms some antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Tricophyton rubrum, and other antiseptic and antimicrobial effects.³⁹ Furthermore, a high content of the fatty acid octanoic acid accounts for insecticide activity in the fruit pulp of noni, and support its traditional use as an insecticidal shampoo.⁴⁰

An extensive literature search failed to find scientific evidence to support some of noni’s traditional uses in the prevention of therapy of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and myriad other conditions for which it is used today. One problem with the scenario is that even when patients taking noni are monitored for “objective” standards—blood pressure, serum glucose and cholesterol measures, it cannot be established with certainty that diet, exercise and pharmaceuticals are not responsible as well as, or instead of, the botanical. At the same time, considering the positive discoveries that have been made with noni fruit so far, there is excellent reason to believe further studies will prove the fruit and its preparations beneficial to health in numerous ways. Noni is a valuable medicinal plant; yet, we have a great deal more to learn about what it contains and how it works.

References

"Goji & Noni: Review of Traditional Medicinal Juices"

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