International Journal of Noni Research - Noni Family

P. Rethinam et al. Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) - the Miracle Fruit - a holistic review
human in different health conditions. It was believed that the Noni fruit juice
contained significant level of antioxidants. This has been proved scientifically
by the analysis of TNJ. The study was designed to measure how the TNJ
scavenged super oxide anion radicals (SAR) and quenched lipid peroxides
(LPO) by TNB assay and LMB assay, respectively (Auerbach et al., 1992;
Wang and Su, 2001). SAR scavenging activity was examined in vitro by
Tettrazolium nitroblue (TNB) assay. The SAR scavenging activity of TNJ was
compared to that of three known antioxidants; vitamins C, grape seed
powder, and pyncogenol at the daily dose per serving level recommended by
US RDA's or manufacturer's recommendations. Under the experimental
conditions the SAR scavenging activity of TNJ was shown to be 2.8 times that
of vitamin C, 1.4 times that of pyncogenol and 1.1 times that of grape seed
powder. Therefore TNJ has a great potential to scavenge reactive oxygen free
radicals (Wang and Su, 2001).
Anti-inflammatory activity
Evidences are indicating that COX-2 inhibitors may be involved in breast,
colon, and lung cancer development (Yau et al., 2002; Takahashi et al.,
2002; Langman et al., 2000). Research on anti-inflammatory has shown that
the selectivity of COX- 2 inhibition of TNJ is comparable with that of Celebrex.
The discovery of the selective COX-2 inhibition of TNJ is very significant since
TNJ is a natural fruit juice without side effects this is the first scientific
evidence for a strong anti- inflammatory activity in TNJ, which may also be
one of the mechanisms of cancer prevention (Zhang et al., 1994). The antiinflammatory
activity was observed in an acute liver injury model in female
SD rats induced by CCl4. A decrease in inflammatory foci and lymphocyte
surrounding central vein areas were observed at 6 h post CCl4 administration
in animals pre treated with 10% TNJ for twelve days in drinking water
compared with CCl4 without TNJ (Wang et al., 2001).
Research from this clinical trials indicated that cigarette-smoke is not only
involved in cancer but also involved in pulmonary, heart and other
degenerative diseases. However, drinking TNJ was beneficial for the prevention
of heart, lung, and brain diseases as well as delaying the ageing processing,
and maintaining overall good health.
Wound healing activity
It is well established that the Morinda leaf and fruit extracts are effective in
healing the wounds. Surendiran (2004) studied the wound healing property
of M. tinctoria using the animal model. The application of chloroform fruit
extract of M. tinctoria topically on the excision wound surface of two different
Intl. J. Noni Res. 2007, 2(1-2) 28