ABOUT INDIAN NONI FRUIT

Introduction
 

Plants are the reservoirs of a large number of imperative organic compounds and they have long been used as the sources of medicines. Dependence on plants is prevalent in developing countries where the traditional herbal medicine plays a major role in health care and in the treatment of many infectious diseases. The rural population of a country is more disposed to traditional ways of treatment because of its easy availability and cheaper cost.
 

Herbal therapies although still an unwritten science is well established in some cultures and tradition and have become a way of treatment in almost 80% of the people in rural areas, especially those in Asia, Latin America and Africa. 

Natural products of folk medicine have been used for centuries in every culture throughout the world. Scientists and medical professionals have Intl. J. Noni Res. 2005, 1(1) 1 shown increased interest in this field as they recognized the true health benefits of these remedies. While searching for food, the ancient found that some foods had specific properties of relieving or eliminating certain diseases and maintaining good health. It was the beginning of herbal medicine. The same story occurred in Polynesia. Among the medicinal plants discovered by the ancestors of Polynesians, Noni (Morinda citrifolia) is one of the important traditional folk medicinal plants that have been used for over 2000 years in Polynesia. It has been reported to have a broad range of therapeutic and nutritional value. The ancestors of Polynesians are believed to have brought many plants with them, as they migrated from Southeast Asia 2000 years ago (Tabrah and Eveleth, 1966; Gerlach, 1996). Of the 12 most common plants they brought, Noni was the second most popular plant used in herbal remedies to treat various common diseases and to maintain overall good health (Krauss, 1993; Gerlach, 1996).
 

Morinda citrifolia fruit has long history of use as a food in tropical regions throughout the world. Documentation of the consumption of the fruit as a food source precedes the twentieth century. Captain James Cook of the British Navy noted in the late 1700’s that the fruit was eaten in Tahiti. An 1866 publication in London explained that M. citrifolia fruit was consumed as a food in the Fiji Islands. Later publications described the use of this fruit throughout the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Australia and India. In Roratonga, the natives often ate the fruit. Australian Aborigines were very much fond of this fruit. In Samoa, Noni fruit was common fare and in Burma it was cooked in curries or eaten raw with salt. In 1943, Merrill described M. citrifolia L. as an edible plant in a technical manual of edible and poisonous plants of the Pacific Islands, in which the leaves and fruits were used as emergency food. In 1992, Abbott reported that Noni had been used as food, drink, medicine and dye.
 

The medicinal properties of M. citrifolia such as anticancer, antitumour, anti-diabetics, antiageing, antimicrobial, etc. have fully been studied scientifically in abroad as a result several commercial products of Noni are available at present.
 

Noni is commonly referred to the species M. citirfolia and is also called as Indian Mulberry. It is also known in different names locally as Cheese Fruit, Forbidden Fruit, Headache Tree, Hog Apple, Mona, Mora de la India, Nino, Nona, Nono, Nonu, Nuna, Pain Bush, Pain Killer Tree, Pinuela, Wild Pine, etc. in various parts of the world. Noni is an evergreen tree found growing in open coastal regions at sea level (Fig. 1) and in forest areas up to about
1300 feet above sea level. It is often found growing along lava flows. Noni is identifiable by its straight trunk, large, bright green and elliptical leaves, white tubular flowers and its distinctive, ovoid, “grenade-like” yellow fruit.

The fruit can grow in size up to 12 cm or more and has a lumpy surface covered by  polygonal-shaped sections (Fig. 2). The seeds, which are triangular shaped and reddish brown, have an air sac attached at one end, which makes the seeds buoyant. The mature Noni fruit has a foul taste and odour. 

Distribution of Morinda

The genus Morinda is present worldwide predominantly in tropical countries. It occurs in Africa, Australia, Barbados, Cambodia, Caribbean, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Florida, French West Indies, Guadeloupe, Guam, Haiti, Hawaii, India, Jamaica, Java, Laos, Malaysia, Marquesas Islands, Philippines, Polynesia, Puerto Rico, Raratonga, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Southeast Asia, St. Croix, Surinam, Tahiti, Thailand, Tonga, Trinida and Tobago and Vietnam. 

Survey of Morinda in south India indicated that 12 different species or varieties of Morinda are distributed throughout TamilNadu and Kerala. However, the species M. tinctoria is present abundantly in most parts of TamilNadu and in some parts of Kerala. To our surprise, M. citrifolia is not recorded in the study area of TamilNadu whereas it is profusely distributed in most part of the Kerala especially coastal region and also in the Mangalore

area of Karnataka. Recently we recorded the presence of an unidentified Morinda species with large and leathery leaves in the Dhandakaranya forest area of Malkanagiri district in Orissa.

Taxonomy of Morinda

Family: Rubiaceae

Common name: Nuna, Noni, Cheese fruit, Koonjerung, Tokoonja, Great Morinda.

Derivation of the name Morinda: From Latin Morus, Mulberry and indicus, Indian referring to the similarity of the fruit to the Mulberry, Morus indica. General description of the genus Morinda

Plant: Woody vines, lianas, shrubs, medium-sized trees or tall canopy trees; raphides present; auciliary thorns absent.

Stipules: Interpetiolar, free at base or interpetiolar, connate at base or sheathing (not splitting on one side), oblong or ligulate, spatulate or bifid, sheathing at base, with two small (non-foliose) lobes each side, persistent. Leaves: Opposite or whorled, rarely ternate, 3 per node, long or shortpetiolate; blades ovate, broadly elliptic, oblong or oblanceolate, chartaceous or stiffly chartaceous; foliar pellucid glands absent; domatia sparse or dense tufts of hairs or absent.

Inflorescence: Axillary or terminal, simple panicle or umbellate heads, not frondose, globose, not subtended by bracts.

Flowers: Bisexual, protandrous.

Calyx: Tubular, urceolate or hemispheric, extremely reduced, with small lobes or short tubular, caducous; lobes absent (calyx truncate or undulate) or 4 to 7, broadly triangular, minute. Calycophylls absent.

Corolla: Tube, more or less funnel shaped, hypocrateriform or narrowly infundibuliform, actinomorphic, white to cream-white; tube externally glabrous, internally glabrous or pubescent; without a pubescent ring inside; orifice annular thickening absent; lobes 4 to 7, valvate in bud, lanceolate or oblong, margin entire, obtuse or acute at apex. Stamens: Alternate to the corolla lobes, included, partially exerted (only tips exerted) or exerted just beyond the corolla; anthers narrowly oblong or elongate, round at base, with acuminate extensions at apex, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, dorsifixed near the middle; filaments attached at the middle of the corolla tube, free at base, slender, long, shorter than corolla tube, equal, glabrous.

Style: Exerted just beyond the corolla, terete throughout, not fleshy or terete, not fleshy, capitate, glabrous; lobes absent or 2, ovate, oblong or linear, stigmatic surface located at style apex. exert

Ovary: Inferior, 2- or 4- locular, narrowly obovoid; placenta reduced, ovules basally inserted, 1 per locule.

Fruit: Densely clustered globose syncarp, fleshy.

Seeds: Vertical, medium-sized, ovoid to obovoid or reniform; wings absent.

Chemical properties of Morinda

A number of major compounds have been identified in the Noni plant such as scopoletin, octoanoic acid, potassium, vitamin C, terpenoids, alkaloids, anthraquinones (such as nordamnacanthal, morindone, rubiadin, andrubiadin- 1-methyl ether, anthraquinone glycoside), β-sitosterol, carotene, vitamin A, flavones glycosides linoleic acid, alizarin, amino acids, acubin, L-asperuloside, caproic acid, caprylic acid, ursolic acid, rutin and a putative proxeronine. (Levand and Larson, 1979; Farine et al., 1996; Peerzada et al., 1990; 

Budhavari et al., 1989; Moorthy and Reddy, 1970; Daulatabad et al., 1989; Balakrishnan et al., 1961; Legal et al., 1994; Singh and Tiwari, 1976; Simonsen, 1920; Heinicke, 1985). The dominant substances in the fruit are fatty acids, while the roots and bark contain anthraquinone. The seed of M. citrifolia contains 16.1% Oil. The main fatty acid components of the oil were linoleic (55%), Oleic (20.5%), Palmitic (12.8%), Ricinoleic (6.8%) and Stearic (4.9%) (Dualatabad et al., 1989; Seidemann, 2002). A research group led by Chi-Tang Ho at Rutges University in the USA is searching for new novel compounds in the Noni plant. They have successfully identified several new flavonol glycosides, and iridoid glycoside from the Noni leaves, trisaccharide fatty acid ester, rutin and an asperolosidic acid from the fruit. Two novel glycosides and a new unusual iridoid named citrifoliniside have been shown to have inhibiting effect on AP-1 trans activation and cell transformation in the mouse epidermal JB6 cell lines (Wang et al., 1999; Sang et al., 2001a and b; Liu et al., 2001; Wang et al., 2000). Further, 23 different phytochemicals were found in Noni besides, 5 vitamins and 3 minerals (Duke, 1992).

General use of Morinda

The species of Morinda especially M. citrifolia has been reported to have a broad range of health benefits for cancer, infection, arthritis, asthma, hypertension, and pain (Whistler, 1992). The roots, stems, bark, leaves, flowers, and fruits of the Noni are all involved in various combinations in almost 40 known and recorded herbal remedies (Bruggnecate, 1992). 

Additionally, the roots were used to produce a yellow or red dye for tapa cloths and fala (mats), while the fruit was eaten for health and food (Aragones et al., 1997). Medicinal use of Morinda The Polynesians utilized the whole Noni plant for herbal remedies. The fruit juice is in high demand in alternative medicine for different kinds of illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle aches and pains, menstrual difficulties, headaches, heart disease, AIDS, cancers, gastric ulcer, sprains, mental depression, senility, poor digestion, arteriosclerosis, blood vessel problems, and drug addiction. Scientific evidence of the benefits of the Noni fruit juice is limited but there is some anecdotal evidence for successful treatment of colds and influenza (Solomon, 1999). Allen and London (1873) published one of the earliest articles on the medicinal benefits of Noni in which they reported the ethnobotanical properties of Noni and the use of fruit. Abbott (1985), a former botanical chemist at the University of Hawaii, stated the use of Noni for diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and many other illnesses (Abbott, 1985; Dixon et al., 1999). Noni was a traditional remedy used to treat broken bones, deep cuts, bruises, sores and wounds (Bushnell et al., 1950). Morton (1992) gave numerous references for medicinal uses of Noni. In addition, Polynesians are reported to treat breast cancer and eye problems.

Article from International Journal of Noni Research, Volume One, Number One, 2005.