None is the Cook Islands name for what we here call "Noni". In the Cook Islands the fruit has been used medicinally for hundreds of years. Botanically the fruit is called: Morinda Citrifolia. It grows on a shrub type tree and the size of the fruit is about the same size as a medium avocado pear. The skin has warts on it similar to a pomegranate. The shrub shows fruit some 10 months after planting. It reaches maturity in about 18 months and then yields between 4 to 8kg of fruit every month, all year round. Although the most significant nutrient feature of noni pulp powder or juice is its high vitamin C content, this level in TNJ provides only about half the vitamin C of a raw navel orange.
There are now approximately 300 companies marketing noni juice in a global market estimated at more than $2 billion annually. Sold in capsule form, pulp powder was the first noni product brought to the commercial market in Hawaii by Herbert Moniz of Herb's Herbs in 1992 after patenting a unique noni dehydrating method.
Each of us is unique in terms of age, health status, and tolerance for different types of medicines. At any given moment there are thousands of chemical reactions taking place within our bodies. This accounts for a wide variety of individual reactions to Noni. Some people will notice a difference immediately, while others may take longer to experience the benefits. Noni juice does have a few benefits, none of them with medical validation though. here are a short list of some of the benefits you can expect:
? Improvement of overall health and well being
? A boost of the body's natural immune system
? Support of the body's natural healing processes
? Improves absorption of nutrients from food
? Aids the body to rid itself of harmful free radicals
? Increased energy during physical performance
Noni juice needs to be taken regularly on a daily basis and hence its taste is important to sustained disciplined consumption. Removing the inherent taste and smell of Noni juice is a trade secret since this knowledge is not easily acquired. As a result almost all Noni juices are mixed with other fruit juices to override its unpleasant taste and smell.
Because of the number of people who began taking noni juice based on the marketers' claims, issues began to be tracked more closely that involved juice taking. Two separate studies in 2005 found that noni juice was causing acute hepatitis - a liver disease - in those who consumed it. Further studies are being done in 2006 to try to track down exactly what aspect of the noni juice is causing this harm. No noni products have achieved sufficient scientific foundation for being licensed as medicines or therapies. Companies today must still apply to the European Commission for Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General to have their own brand of noni juice included as a novel food under the initial approval.
