''Morinda citrifolia'' is a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. Its native range extends across Southeast Asia and Australasia, and was spread across the Pacific by Polynesian sailors. The species is now cultivated throughout the tropics and widely

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

. Among some 100 names for the fruit across different regions are the more common English names of great morinda, Indian mulberry, noni, beach mulberry, vomit fruit and cheese fruit. The fresh fruit's strong, vomit-like odor has made it a famine food in most regions, but it remains a

staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...

among some cultures, and has been used in traditional medicine. In the consumer market, it has been introduced as a

supplement Supplement or Supplemental may refer to: Health and medicine * Bodybuilding supplement * Dietary supplement * Herbal supplement Media * Supplement (publishing), a publication that has a role secondary to that of another preceding or concurre ...

in various formats, such as capsules, skin products, and

juices Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as ...

Growing habitats

''Morinda citrifolia'' grows in shady forests, as well as on open rocky or sandy shores. It reaches maturity in about 18 months, then yields between of fruit every month throughout the year. It is tolerant of

saline Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...

soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils. It is therefore found in a wide variety of habitats: volcanic terrains, lava-strewn coasts, and clearings or limestone outcrops, as well as in coralline atolls. It can grow up to tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves. The plant bears flowers and fruits all year round. The fruit is a

multiple fruit Multi-fruits, also called collective fruits, are fruiting bodies formed from a cluster of flowers, the ''inflorescence''. Each flower in the inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. After flowering the mass is called a ...

that has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit. It is oval in shape and reaches size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains many seeds. ''Morinda citrifolia'' is especially attractive to weaver ants, which make nests from the leaves of the tree. These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects. The smell of the fruit also attracts fruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds. A type of fruit fly, '' Drosophila sechellia'', feeds exclusively on these fruits.

Uses

A variety of beverages (juice drinks), powders (from dried ripe or unripe fruits), cosmetic products (lotions, soaps), oil (from seeds), leaf powders (for encapsulation or pills) have been introduced into the consumer market.

Food

Noni is sometimes called a "starvation fruit", implying that it was used by indigenous peoples as emergency food during times of

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit was nevertheless eaten as a famine food, and, in some

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

, even as a

, either raw or cooked. Southeast Asians and Australian Aboriginals consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry.Cribb, A.B. & Cribb, J.W. (1975) Wild Food in Australia. Sydney: Collins. The seeds are edible when

roasted Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization ...

. In Thai cuisine, the leaves (known as ''bai-yo'') are used as a green vegetable and are the main ingredient of ''kaeng bai-yo'', cooked with

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...

. The fruit (''luk-yo'') is added as a salad ingredient to some versions of

somtam Green papaya salad ( km, បុកល្ហុង, lo, ຕຳຫມາກຫຸ່ງ and th, ส้มตำ) is a spicy salad made from shredded unripe papaya. It was possibly created by the Lao people but is eaten throughout Continental ...

Traditional medicine

Green fruit, leaves, and root or

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s might have been used in Polynesian cultures as a general tonic, in addition to its traditional place in Polynesian culture as a famine food. Although ''Morinda'' is considered to have biological properties in traditional medicine, there is no confirmed evidence of clinical

efficacy Efficacy is the ability to perform a task to a satisfactory or expected degree. The word comes from the same roots as ''effectiveness'', and it has often been used synonymously, although in pharmacology a pragmatic clinical trial#Efficacy versu ...

for any intended use. In 2018, a Hawaiian manufacturer of noni food and skincare products was issued an

FDA warning letter An FDA warning letter is an official message from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to a manufacturer or other organization that has violated some rule in a federally regulated activity. The FDA defines an FDA warning letter as: ...

for marketing unapproved drugs and making false

health claim A health claim on a food label and in food marketing is a claim by a manufacturer of food products that their food will reduce the risk of developing a disease or condition. For example, it is claimed by the manufacturers of oat cereals that oat ...

s in violation of the US Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Dyes

Among Austronesian peoples, noni was traditionally used primarily for the production of

dyes A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

. It was carried into the

as canoe plants by Austronesian voyagers. Morinda bark produces a brownish-purplish

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

that may be used for making batik. In Hawaii, yellowish dye is extracted from its roots to dye cloth.

Popular culture

The fruit is widely used in eating challenges in the British reality television programme I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, where it is referred to as vomit fruit.What is vomit fruit, as seen on I’m A Celebrity?
''Metro''. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2022.

Nutrients and phytochemicals

''Morinda citrifolia'' fruit powder contains

carbohydrates In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or may ...

and

dietary fibre Dietary fiber (in British English fibre) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical composition, and can be grouped generally by the ...

in moderate amounts. These macronutrients evidently reside in the fruit pulp, as ''M. citrifolia'' juice has sparse nutrient content. The main

micronutrient Micronutrients are nutrient, essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities throughout life to orchestrate a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Micronutrient requirements differ between organisms; for exam ...

s of ''M. citrifolia'' pulp powder include vitamin C,

niacin Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtained in the diet from a variet ...

(vitamin B₃), iron and potassium. Vitamin A, calcium and sodium are present in moderate amounts. When ''M. citrifolia'' juice alone is analyzed and compared to pulp powder, only vitamin C is retainedNelson, Scot C. (2006)
Nutritional Analysis of Hawaiian Noni (Pure Noni Fruit Juice)
The Noni Website. Retrieved 15-06-2009. in an amount (34 mg per 100 gram juice) that is 64% of the content of a raw

navel orange An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae (see list of plants known as orange); it primarily refers to ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related ''Citrus × ...

(53 mg per 100 g or 89% of the Daily Value). Sodium levels in ''M. citrifolia'' juice (about 3% of Dietary Reference Intake, DRI)Nelson, Scot C. (2006)
Nutritional Analysis of Hawaiian Noni (Noni Fruit Powder)
The Noni Website. Retrieved 15-06-2009. are high compared to an orange, and potassium content is moderate. ''Morinda citrifolia'' fruit contains a number of

phytochemical Phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them resist fungi, bacteria and plant virus infections, and also consumption by insects and other animals. The name comes . Some phytochemicals have been used as poisons ...

s, including lignans, oligo- and polysaccharides, flavonoids,

iridoids Iridoids are a type of monoterpenoids in the general form of cyclopentanopyran, found in a wide variety of plants and some animals. They are biosynthetically derived from 8-oxogeranial. Iridoids are typically found in plants as glycosides, mos ...

, fatty acids, scopoletin, catechin, beta-sitosterol,

damnacanthal Damnacanthal is an anthraquinone isolated from the root of ''Morinda citrifolia'', using water or organic solvents. Pharmacology In a 1995 in vitro study, damnacanthal was found to act as a potent and selective inhibitor of p56lck tyrosine kinase ...

, and

alkaloids Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar st ...

. Although these substances have been studied for bioactivity, research is insufficient to conclude anything about their effects on human health.

Gallery

Image:Morinda citrifolia Flower.jpg, ''M. citrifolia'' flower File:YoungNoni.jpg, Young noni growing on Oahu, Hawaii

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q234238 Asian vegetables citrifolia Plant dyes Tropical fruit Flora of Queensland Flora of the Maldives Bushfood Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Edible fruits