Noni - Morinda citrifolia - Nhàu

A Polynesian Delight

During the first three quarters of this Century, a great deal traditional medical wisdom was over looked as medicine became more scientific and engrossed in technology. This resulted in large segments of the population putting their care along with their personal choices into the hands of physicians, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

As the pendulum has swung back toward natural healing one surprising rediscovery has been the Noni fruit or Morinda citrifolia, Rubiacae. This botanical panacea has attracted the attention of botanists, researches and doctors. Phytonutrients represent a step beyond what we traditionally call vitamins. They are specialized plant compounds that have beneficial functions in our bodies.

Examples of good sources of phytonutrients you may already be familiar with include ginseng, licorice, gingko biloba and aloe vera.

Noni fruit juice is known to contain many different kinds of phytonutrients. These include a glucopolysaccharide that is known to boost the immune system, a compound that inhibits viruses and cancerous changes in DNA, and the precursor to an alkaloid called xeronine that improves the functioning of your enzymes and cell wall receptors. These compounds work together to boost each other’s effectiveness. They have been designed and formulated by the wisdom of nature rather than by someone in a laboratory.

Optimal functioning of your immune system is vital to your overall wellness, every biochemical reaction in your body utilizes enzymes and all of your cellular communication mechanisms use cell wall receptors. Because Noni juice works on such basic levels, you can well imagine that is has many uses.

Noni juice is simple. It is just a juice. It is as safe for you as orange juice or apple juice. It has many powerful therapeutic benefits. If you were severely deficient in vitamin C, you would have a condition called scurvy. Vitamin C, among other things, helps with the production of collagen, the main ingredient in our connective tissue.
Scurvy is a condition where your body is literally falling apart. If you had scurvy, a glass of orange juice would have powerful therapeutic benefits. A glass or two of orange juice per day would prevent it altogether. This analogy applies to Noni in that many of us are severely xeronine deficient.

Nutrient-depleted soils, environmental pollution, the stress of everyday life, aging, diseases and certain food additives all work together to deplete our xeronine. Noni fruit juice supplies the necessary nutrients so that our bodies can make more xeronine.

THE HISTORY OF TAHITIAN NONI

Ancient peoples of what is now known as French Polynesia colonized islands throughout the South Pacific. As they made their voyages from island to island in ocean-going canoes, they brought with them sacred plants from their home islands. These plants contained the basic foods, construction materials, and medicines used by the Polynesian colonizers.

Perhaps the most important of these plants was simply known as Noni. Noni was highly valued for its healthful qualities. Ancient manuscripts handed down from generation to generation cite the Noni fruit as the primary ingredient in their natural health preparations as well as a fundamental part of traditional Polynesian medicine.
The surprising properties of the Noni fruit Morinda citrifolia, Rubiacae has attracted the attention of botanists, researches and doctors. Scientists have studied the Noni plant for many years hoping to unlock the secrets of its tremendous impact on the body. In study after study, Noni has been found to be exactly what the traditional Polynesians have always known, a perfect natural gift worthy of our greatest attention.

WHY NONI WORKS

Researchers have identified over 50 compounds in the Noni fruit that have therapeutic value. Two of these compounds, Anthraquinones and scopoletin have been proven to be helpful against bacteria, fungus, inflammation and allergies. Another category, Terpenes, are also found in essential oils, help rejuvenate cells.

French scientists had success testing Noni’s pain-killing elements. Japanese researchers found a compound named Damnacanthal that inhibited pre-cancerous cells. Dr. Ralph Heinicki, PhD, discoved that Noni contains an appreciable quantity of a compound that he identified and named, proxeronine.

Proxeronine helps the body make an important alkaloid called xeronine. Dr. Heinicke, a leading authority on Noni juice, pioneered the search for the active ingredient in Noni fruit. In 1957 he discovered an alkaloid in healthy human cells that he named xeronine.

Xeronine is very important to the body because it regulates and strengthens the protein in our cells. Protein is found everywhere in our body and comprises the bulk of the organic material within the cell. Hemoglobin, insulin, collagen, as well as muscle and skin, cell membranes, blood vessel walls, blood clots and many hormones are also made of protein. Xeronine’s impact on protein may help to explain Noni’s effectiveness for so many different conditions.

Heinicke found that insufficient amounts of xeronine in cells can lead to major health problems. Only a negligible amount of free xeronine is actually in the Noni fruit, but the precursor of xeronine, proxeronine, is present in the fruit in significant amounts. The xeronine becomes active when it’s ingested into your body.

HOW XERONINE IS MADE IN THE BODY

Proxeronine and proxeronase are abundant in the juice of the Noni fruit. Proxeronine is the precursor of the alkaloid xeronine, the basic building block of this important substance. Proxeronase is the enzyme necessary to complete the chemical reaction which produces xeronine.

Proxeronine and proxeronase combine in the large intestine to produce xeronine. Xeronine is then absorbed in the cells of the body. Noni fruit also contains the inactive form of the enzyme needed to release xeronine from proxeronine. For Noni to be effective, this "proenzyme" must be properly activated.

Noni should be taken on an empty stomach so that the critical proenzyme is able to escape digestion and enter the intestines, where it can be activated and used by your body. Many locations in the body have proteins with receptor sites for xeronine absorption. Research done by A. Hirazumi and others shows that Noni significantly increased the life span of mice with lung cancer. The Noni juice seemed to act indirectly by enhancing the host immune system.

Noni can also be an effective burn teatment. Xeronine activates a specific protein digesting enzyme that quickly and safely removes dead tissue from burns. Noni makes people feel better because xeronine converts certain brain proteins into active receptor sites for endorphins, the well-being hormones. It can also improve digestion because it enables larger molecules of digested material to pass through cell membranes.

Other health problems that Noni favorably affects are high blood pressure, menstrual cramps, arthritis, gastric ulcers, sprains, poor digestion, atherosclerosis, blood vessel problems, drug addiction, pain and many others. The administration of Noni’s simple alkaloid causes an unbelievably wide range of physiological responses making Noni juice a valuable herbal remedy.

Dr. Steven Hall, MD, who specializes in the treatment of chronic conditions such as chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic pain, has found that these are the conditions that Noni helps the most. "Not only does Noni juice provide many benefits on its own, but it also increases the effectiveness of other treatments," said Dr. Hall.

Hall also agrees that the major key to Noni’s effectiveness is that it contains significant amounts of proxeronine, which becomes xeronine when ingested. Xeronine is important because it helps the body turn enzymes on and off. Trying to operate your body’s enzyme systems without xeronine is like driving a car with a sloppy link in the steering column — your steering is sluggish and it’s difficult to control the car. If your body has enough xeronine, it’s like having the tight, precise steering of a race car.

Some of Dr. Hall’s best results with Noni juice were with patients that had inflammation problems such as arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, or carpal tunnel syndrom. In our culture 30-40% of the calories we get are from sugar. This makes it hard for our bodies to regulate themselves. He believes Noni helps the body reach another level of cellular and molecular regulation, which can control the inflammatory process. Noni offers help to people who have not been helped by traditional medical science.

There are several Noni fruit juice products on the market. Some are powdered and in capsules, others are liquid. Of the liquids a few contain extracts of the roots and leaves of the Noni plant. Recipes that follow a pure extract of the Noni fruit juice contain the perfect mix of the pulpy and watery part of the fruit. This is important because these two fruit components, though essentially similar, have unique properties. Together they are a dynamic pair.

Noni grows in practically all tropical regions of the world, from Puerto Rico to India. However, the soils of the world simply aren’t the same. The best Noni grows in unspoiled, nutrient rich soil such as that of the remote Polynesian island of Tahiti in the South Pacific. There the Noni fruit is gathered in the same way now as it was 2000 years ago, from soil that has not been depleted of nutrients and minerals, thereby maintaining the vitality of the therapeutic properties of Noni juice.

Noni is taken to improve overall health and well being, to boost the body’s immune system and to help support your body’s natural healing processes. Noni helps to better absorb the nutrients from foods and from other supplements. It provides your body with nutrients that are not found in many foods today. It strengthens your body’s enzymes, cell receptor sites and cell proteins in order to help them work better.

When your body receives Noni for the first time, it may recognize that the Noni is filling a nutritional need. The immediate effects you may feel could be your body’s way of communicating its gratitude: "Yes, this is what I want!" Changes in lung capacity and eyesight are easy for most people to notice. The body is naturally cleansing itself of toxins and metabolic wastes all the time.

Your body was already primed for a cleansing, and Noni just provided the supportive boost needed to proceed. If you have been drinking less than two glasses of water a day toxins have been building up in your body. When taking Noni, make sure you are drinking at least eight glasses of purified water a day, to flush the metabolic wastes your body naturally produces, plus the toxins your body collects from your diet and from the environment.

If you have not been drinking enough water and you get a cleansing reaction, your symptoms can go away if you simply drink more water.

Although cleansing reactions have a reputation for being associated with unpleasant symptoms, they can also be positive. Unfortunately, positive cleansing reactions don’t last as long as we might like them to. They can include a surge of creativity and new ideas, an extraordinary sense of well being, considerably more energy than usual, greatly improved memory or remarkably clearer thinking.

Naturally, we welcome the positive cleansing reactions, but try not to be disappointed when they go away. Your body will soon adjust to the greater level of health, and the positive reactions will lessen as you settle into a new healthier state of "normal". Continue to take Noni to help maintain this higher level of health.
Loose stools tend to occur when you are taking more Noni than you need. Ideally, using Noni should allow you to detoxify gradually and feel good at the same time. Then, if you do have a cleansing reaction, adjusting the amount of Noni you take and how you take it can help you detoxify more comfortably.

One person who had positive results with Noni was a woman with degenerative arthritis who’d been in pain for approximately twenty years. She’d had knee replacements in 1990, but that didn’t solve the problem. She had to walk with a cane and had a hard time getting up from a sitting position.

Alter being on Noni for three days, she was able to throw her cane away, get up from the sofa, and run most of the way across the room without pain. She knew Noni had done it, because it was the only thing she had changed in her life. There was also a patient with macular degeneration, a dark spot on the back of her eye who was helped by Noni. Her vision had deteriorated so much that she was essentially blind.

She’d been to some of the best ophthalmologists and top medical centers, but they hadn’t been able to help her. After two-and-a-half weeks on Noni, her ophthalmologist documented that there was a regeneration of cells in her eye to replace the ones that had deteriorated. Another woman had a cyst on the back of her neck. She had felt it under the skin for months. Noni was able to draw the cyst out to the point that it could be lanced and removed without a problem.

Noni juice also dramatically improves high blood pressure. One woman’s blood pressure was 170/100 and we could not budge it. After two months on Noni, it’s 130/80. All of these results stem from Noni’s enhancement of the activities of the pineal gland.

This vital gland is where serotonin is produced, from which melatonin is synthesized. Melatonin helps regulate sleep, mood, puberty, and ovarian cycles. In the brain, serotonin and melatonin affect conditions like multiple sclerosis. With MS, a pigmented area in the brain called the substantia nigra is missing some of the needed pigment.

Noni juice restores this chemical material to the brain, causing a favorable response in people with MS. There are serotonin receptors in the digestive tract as well. Noni can improve digestion. Noni also balances the body’s pH levels, which affect one’s ability to absorb minerals and vitamins. Noni enhances the junction of the thyroid and thymus glands, helping to ward off infections and other problems with the immune system. It can even reverse depression, because it allows neural hormones to work.

Noni juice helps the pancreas to balance blood sugar. Women who drink Noni juice have fewer cramps, and men who drink Noni have less swelling in their prostate. Noni basically enhances whatever medical treatment a patient is receiving. I’ve spoken to ancient healers in Hawaii who consider this to be a sacred fruit and they aren’t at all surprised by the incredible medical results we’ve had with Noni.

The modern world of medicine is finally starting to catch up to the knowledge of ancient times. We now have the equipment necessary to evaluate what it is about the Noni plant that allows it to cause such dramatic improvement in so many areas of the body. Noni, an ancient remedy, is finally being validated by breakthroughs in modern technology.