Family: rubiacea

Other known names: Noni

Thai names: Lug Yoor, Mataasuea. Yae-yai, Karen-Mae Hong Son

Botanical description:
The plant is a slender tree reaching a height of up to 6 m with many branches.
The elliptical leaves are thick, glossy and dark green. The flowers grow on the fruit until it attains its final size of 6 to 10 cm. The fruit is when it is ripe is light green-yellow. The flesh is hard and speckled with many small black seeds. The plants bears fruit all year round.

Morinda is a native evergreen of tropical South-East Asia which prefers moist soils. In Thailand it is not cultivated, it is harvested from its natural wild habitat in the rain forest. The Latin name provides information on its origin: Morus - black, india, - India, which through human migration arrived in the pacific islands from where it has been marketed in recent years under the name of ‘Noni’ (USA, Salt Lake City, Utah) where it acquired an unfortunate reputation. It should be emphasised at this juncture that the vast majority of commercially distributed products bearing the name Noni, particularly juices, contain such small quantities - if any - of morinda’s active ingredients to be worthless for any medicinal purposes.

In Thai food - which surprisingly, contrary to what is commonly thought, uses more curry than indian food - this fruit has been used for many centuries.
Morinda is one the ingredients of curry, which is of course not a single spice but a mixture of many herbs which are combined in varying quantities so as to produce different flavours of what is basically the same taste.

It has become fashionable (again) for Thais to plant a morinda tree in their garden, which according to the ethnic botanical tradition should be planted in the correct juxtaposition to the entrance to the house, as the Thais believe that this tree radiates a certain energy. The Chinese teachings of Feng Shui confirm this, and the writer also has two such trees in his garden.

Uses in Ethnic Medicine:

Fruit:
It is taken by mothers after childbirth and used in the treatment of whooping cough (pertussis), sore throat, infection of the gums (gingivitis), severe weight loss (cachexia), nutritional deficiency, as a carminative for flatulence. It regulates (rather than stimulating) the appetite, and acts as an anti emetic (prevents vomiting).

Ingredients (fruit):
Asperuloside, caproic acid, caprylic acid, glucose, butan acid, benzoe acid, benzyalkohol, 1-butanol, decan acid, E-6-gamma-dedecenolacton,
8,11,14,eicosatiren acid, elalin acid, acetic acid, valin ethydecanoat, ethylhexonat, eugoel, glucose, 2-hepaton, hexanol, hexanamid, hexandin acid, hexan acid, hexanol, 3-hydorxy-2-butanon, laurin acid, limon (citric) acid, linol acid, 2-methylbutan acid, 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol, methyldecanoat, 2- methypropan acid, 3-methypropan acid, myrin acid, nonan acid, octan acid, olein acid, onath acid, palmin acid, scopoletin, undecan acid, (Z,Z)-2,5-undecadien-1- ol, vonol, magnesium, manganese, methionin, pentose, phosphor, prolin, riboflavin, rubiadin, rubiadinmonomethen, saccharose, selen, serin, ß-sitosterol, thiamine, tryptophan, tyrosin. Vitamines A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, C, vomifo, copper and zinc., L-lactic acid, D-lactic acid, molybdenum, morindadiol,morindin, morindogenin.
And recently discovered: 6-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-1-O-octanoyl-beta-Dglucopyranose

Traditional Thai prescriptions:
Morinda leaves are laid on wounds that are slow to heal. The fruit is consumed as a daily foodstuff in curries but also taken as raw fruit which is cut into slices, dried (traditionally) in the sun and ground with the two most frequently used kitchen utensils in Thailand: the pestle and mortar.

Pharmacognistic action and clinical trials:
First and foremost, it should be noted that a clinical field trial was carried out by the endocrinologist Prof. Niel Solomon involving 20 doctors and over 8,000 patients who were treated exclusively with morinda citrifolia. Whereas all research and trials in the USA which were sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry were accepted without reservation, it should be mentioned that although this research took place according to normal university methods, it did not meet with recognition in Europe due to alleged faults in the design of the research.
Morinda can increase mental clarity and attention span, as well as allow greater physical performance levels. It also benefits the following systems of the body:

Immune system: aids the immune system's natural facility of the immune
system to combat disease and infection.

Cardiovascular system, tissues, and cells: Morinda is an antioxidant that assists the body to clear harmful free radicals. It can also increase energy levels.

Digestive system: assists better digestion and helps absorb more nutrients at the cellular level.

Skin and hair: contains ingredients that are specifically important to the skin and hair. It transports supportive products to the epidermis.
A vast amount of current research is being carried out to substantiate the claims of this almost ‘miracle’ plant. Interested readers can learn more from Dr. Ralph Heinicke and Afa Palu who are working on the extraction and structure of proxeronine and xeronine, Dr. C. Ho who is researching new compounds. at Rutgers University,Dr. Mian-Ying Wang who is working on the first human clinical trial at the University of Illinois, Rockford. Dr. Anne Hirazumi Kim has also carried out significant research to which a follow-up is still taking place.
A. Hirazumi, E. Furusawa, SC. Chou, Y. Hokama at the Department of Pharmacology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu are researching the anti cancer activity.

At the The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, Austin, USA., exracts of Morinda citrifolia have been used to treat diseases, including cancer. Two novel glycosides, extracted from the juice of noni fruits, were used to examine their effects on 12-O-tedtradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)- and epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced AP-1 transactivation and cell transformation in mouse epidermal JB6 cells. The results indicated that both compounds were effective in suppressing TPA- or EGF-induced cell transformation and associated AP-1 activity. TPA- or EGF-induced phosphorylation of c-Jun, but not extracellular signal-regulated kinases or p38 kinases, was also blocked by the compounds, indicating that c-Jun N-terminal kinases were critical in mediating TPA- or EGFinduced AP-1 activity and subsequent cell transformation in JB6 cells. (Cancer Res. 2001 Aug 1;61(15):5749-56.)