Can the miracle cure for cancer be found in the noni plant?

Researchers at the University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center were awarded $340,000 by the National Institutes of Health in 2001 to find out.

Part of the study looked at what chemicals in noni entered the blood and could be responsible for anti-cancer activity. The two-year study included 29 cancer patients who had undergone standard treatments.

Although human trials have not confirmed noni as a cancer cure, its potential as a supportive therapy continues to be studied. Science walks alongside tradition—with care, curiosity, and hope.

Found throughout the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical areas, noni (also known as Indian mulberry or morinda citrifolia) has been used for hundreds of years as a healing medicine by Native Hawaiians.

During World War II, soldiers stationed in the South Pacific ate noni for added strength. It’s high in potassium and has already been shown to kill the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, which could lead to new drugs to fight the disease.

Japanese researchers discovered that a compound in noni root inhibits the chemical process (ras function) that converts normal cells into cancerous cells—and even causes the bad cells to return to their normal shape and structure.

“Hope,” explained British motivational writer Samuel Smiles, “is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who hopes strongly, has within him the gift of miracles.”