Who doesn’t want to be that little bit healthier? Especially if improving your health involves minimal effort. With this in mind we’ve made it our mission to bring you news each week of a product, a foodstuff, an exercise technique or a pill that promises potentially magical health-giving properties.
This week’s magic ingredient: Noni.
Not to be confused with: Dog shit (given that the stuff is referred to as dog dumpling in Barbados) or human rights activist Nonie Darwish.
Did you just say ‘dog dumpling’? Yes indeed. However, don’t scarper just yet. These plants have nothing to do with dog poo, nor are its fruits excreted from any kind of animal. They are, in fact, fruits which have a very pungent odor when ripening, and can even be known as the vomit fruit.
Oh man. This isn’t going very well at all. Enlighten me as to why I should bother with this stuff? Well, if you suffer with spots or temperamental skin then this is your fella. The use of noni seed oil, which contains linoleic acid, has been known to be helpful for anti-inflammation, acne reduction and moisture retention when applied topically to skin.
Okay, that’s better. Tell me more. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as a famine food and, in some Pacific Islands, even as a staple food either raw or cooked. Southeast Asians and Australian Aborigines consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry. The seeds are edible when roasted.
So, there’s different forms of it? Yes. There’s noni juice, noni pulp powder, noni fruit capsules and noni leaf capsules. By the way, noni is also known as morinda citrifolia.
What does it do for you apart from keep away a few spots? The US National Cancer Institute is continuing its research for potential preventive effects against breast cancer. They have been unsuccessful so far in proving potential health benefits or anti-disease effects of noni which remains scientifically undefined for any effect on human health.
Although unsupported by science, the green fruit, leaves and the root/rhizome were traditionally used to treat bowel irregularities and urinary tract infections. It’s also meant to help menstrual cramp – you never know when that might come in handy.
So how is it taken? The juice is the easiest form to get it into your system.
Where can you get it? A decent health food store should stock the stuff and you also may come across the capsules if you’re lucky. A simple rummage online will throw you up all sorts of companies selling the gear.
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