The Potential Health Benefits of Noni Juice: A Review of Human Intervention Studies

Abstract

Noni juice is a globally popular health beverage originating in the tropics. Traditional Tahitian healers believe the noni plant to be useful for a wide range of maladies, and noni juice consumers throughout the world have similar perceptions. Nevertheless, human clinical trials are necessary for a precise understanding of what the health benefits of noni juice are. A review of published human intervention studies suggests that noni juice may provide protection against tobacco smoke-induced DNA damage, blood lipid and homocysteine elevation as well as systemic inflammation. Human intervention studies also indicate that noni juice may improve joint health, increase physical endurance, increase immune activity, inhibit glycation of proteins, aid weight management, help maintain bone health in women, help maintain normal blood pressure, and improve gum health. Further, these studies point to notable antioxidant activity in noni juice, more so than other fruit juices which served as trial placebos. It is this antioxidant effect and its interaction with the immune system and inflammation pathways that may account for many of the observed health benefits of noni juice. However, the existing evidence does have some limitations as far as its general application to noni juice products; all the peer-reviewed human interventions studies to date have involved only one source of French Polynesian noni juice. Geographical factors and variations in processing methods are known to produce commercial noni juice products with divergent phytochemical and nutrient compositions. Therefore, other sources of noni products may have different toxicological and pharmacological profiles.

Effects of Acute Consumption of Noni and Chokeberry Juices vs. Energy Drinks on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Blood Glucose in Young Adults

“…Others used higher doses, i.e., 59 mL twice per day [42], or even more, i.e., 100 mL [43]. It is worth noting that daily consumption of as much as 750 mL of noni juice is safe for people [44]. Chokeberry juice was less effective although it was used in a larger amount than noni juice, but similar to other previous studies [29].…”

The Effect of Corrected Inflammation, Oxidative Stress and Endothelial Dysfunction on Fmd Levels in Patients with Selected Chronic Diseases: A Quasi-Experimental Study

“…Human clinical trials are necessary for a precise understanding of what the health benefits of noni juice might be. Human intervention studies also indicate that noni juice may improve joint health, increase physical endurance, increase immune activity, Blood Lipid Normalization, hs-CRP and Homocysteine Reduction, Control of Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) and Glycosylated Hemoglobin, inhibit glycation of proteins, aid weight management, help maintain bone health in women, help maintain cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, help maintain normal blood pressure and Mitigation of Osteoporosis, and Gingivitis and improve gum health [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] . It has shown for the first time in the literature that serum ADMA levels from endothelial dysfunction markers have decreased and FMD has increased with the use of these three products, and especially with the effect of noni fruit, which is known for its anti-atherosclerotic properties.…”

The Influence of <i>Morinda citrifolia</i> (Noni) Fruit Juice on Collagen Deposition in the Skin: A Minireview

“…Many of the traditional perceptions of noni seem to be validated by the results of human clinicals trials, especially those involving noni fruit juice. Among the recorded effects of noni juice ingestion are the protection of DNA, control of tobacco-smoke induced blood lipid and homocysteine elevation, control of systemic inflammation, improvement of joint health, increased physical endurance, increased immune activity, inhibition of advanced glycation end product (AGE) formation, weight management, maintenance of bone health, normalization of blood pressure, and improved gum health [9]. Some Pacific Islanders believe that improved skin health is one of the benefits of drinking noni juice [10].…”