Noni Juice Benefits: One Noni Plant Compound is "Dam" Important.

Noni Juice benefits have been almost taken for granted in Asian and Polynesian countries where the plant has a long history of use. There, the roots, leaves and berries are used to treat everything from hemorrhoids and rheumatoid arthritis, to cancer and diabetes.

In a somewhat obscure article in the June 2004 issue of Hawaii Medical Journal, Wong reviews two cases of patients using noni juice. This review is prompted by the number of cancer patients using noni juice... not surprising for a locale with a rich Polynesian heritage. The case studies are intended to elicit further clinical review of the juice, but it appears that no such clinical review has been published to-date.

Instead, scientists have done what scientists do first - try to find the "active" compounds in the herb. In doing so they identified Damnacanthal, a portion of the noni root, which they call "Dam," for short.

On August 16, 2011,Thararat Nualsanit and colleagues, published a series of very simple, very clean, and very convincing experiments to show that this noni extract is really very important.

Dam stops the colorectal cancer cells from growing, stops them from migrating, and induces them to commit suicide.

Not bad for one component. I wonder what they will find in the rest of the plant...

I'd like to see some science done on the whole noni berry, leaf, and/or root, because I believe that history has shown time and again that individual compounds are often less potent than a synergistic combination. Although I must admit that this Dam compound is doing its best to prove me wrong. Yes, I kinda liked that pun.

And of course, I'd love to see some research in some whole people. Many past experiments on noni juice benefits have used rodent models, so these experiments on human cells in a dish lend credence to previous findings.

Again, the damnacanthal in this study is from the noni root - not the berry, from which the noni juice is derived. I do not know how much dam is in the berry, and would be conferred to noni juice, quite honestly.

Return to Current Science News from Noni Juice Benefits - One Noni Compound Battles Colorectal Cancer Go to The Science of Natural Health Homepage from Noni Juice Benefits - One Noni Compound Battles Colorectal Cancer