Noni Juice Research

The Physicians Desk Reference ("PDR") for Non-Prescription Drugs and Dietary Supplements lists only one particular commercial brand of noni juice, with no side effects mentioned. Consumers of noni juice are advised to carefully check labels for warnings, which may say, "Not safe for pregnant women" or "Keep out of reach of children."

Some commercial brands of noni juice may be high in potassium. While potassium is a valuable nutrient in a normal diet, persons with advanced kidney disease cannot excrete it properly and should avoid noni juice, which has been known to cause hyperkalemia. Of related significance is a report showing high variability in mineral contents between various brands of noni juice.

Noni Juice Research

Athletes intending to use noni juice to supplement their diet should be aware that two brands of noni juice are listed on ConsumerLab.com's "Athletic Banned Substance Screening Program" as having been screened for substances on the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List.

Preliminary Noni Juice Research

Noni has increasingly stimulated the interest of medical science, with 145 papers published since 1994 and 55 just since 2006 (search "noni" and "morinda"; PubMed search, January 2008). Despite the large market for juice products and research developments, the nutrient and phytochemical profiles of noni have not been extensively studied.

Furthermore, 1) numerous health claims made in noni juice marketing are not supported by scientific research and 2) in human clinical trials, only one cancer study completed under NIH peer-review in 2006 has been conducted, the results of which remain unpublished as of August 2007.

Likewise, in a university-based pilot study funded by the noni juice manufacturer, Tahitian Noni International, Inc., it was shown that noni juice consumption might lower blood cholesterol levels. Completed in 2006, however, the results of this study have not been published under peer-review and have met critical judgment by experts.

Laboratory studies have investigated noni's effect on the growth of cancerous tissue in mice. One such study in vitro found that noni reduced growth of capillary vessels sprouting from human breast tumor explants and, at increased concentrations, caused existing vessels to degenerate. It remains unknown whether such effects occur in vivo in other animal models or in cancer patients.

Another study showed noni juice to inhibit formation of cancer cells in rats (using detection methods of biochemical markers called DNA adducts.) It further showed a reduced number of DNA adducts in rats induced with a carcinogen. The same study showed effective antioxidant properties of noni juice compared with those of vitamin C, grape seed powder, and pycnogenol. The results indicated reduced carcinogen-DNA adducts formation in this laboratory model and antioxidant activity that may be relevant to anti-cancer mechanisms.

As such findings have neither been confirmed by other laboratory experiments nor demonstrated in expert-reviewed human clinical trials, no inference can be made about whether noni has anti-cancer properties.

Laboratory experiments showed that noni juice might affect physical endurance of mice. A preliminary study of athletes showed potential benefit of noni juice on exercise endurance, an effect the authors attributed to increased antioxidant capacity.  Tahitian Noni Juice Research has continued even until today at top universities in the United States such as the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

 Noni Juice Organic