Noni is the Hawaiian word for morinda citrifolia. In Tahiti, it is
known as nono. All the original noni studies were done at the
Hawaii Done Pineapple Research facility by Dr. Heinicke. The only
clinical study done on noni was conducted at the University of
Hawaii's Cancer Research Institute on Oahu, Hawaii.

Aloha,

Christian Wilson

--- In NoniNews@yahoogroups.com, "sal_gal2004" <sal_gal2004@y...>
wrote:
> I find it surprising this particular medical Doctor chose to use
> Hawaiian Noni in his study
> instead of Tahitian noni. The surprise comes from the fact that I
> thought all the Doctors
> support TAHITIAN NONI juice or at least that is what a TNI
> distributor told me.
>
> I am happy to see Hawaiian Noni being used in a creditable medical
> study and getting the
> positive results.
>
>
> --- In NoniNews@yahoogroups.com, "wilsonc@H..."
<manalishi2001@y...>
> wrote:
> > Noni shows cancer promise
> > A study by UH researchers explores
> > the plant's possible pain-relieving
> > benefits to patients
> >
> > By Helen Altonn
> > haltonn@s...
> > Cancer Research Center of Hawaii researchers are getting reports
> > from patients taking noni that they have less pain that
interferes
> > with activities.
> >
> > "That is exciting to us. It may be reducing the pain people
> > experience, but we can't say. It's too early for a definitive
> > conclusion," said Carolyn Gotay about the center's study of the
> > fruit's medical value.
> >
> > Dr. Brian Issell, internist, oncologist and clinical sciences
> > program director at the University of Hawaii cancer center, is
> > principal investigator of the study, which began in 2001.
> >
> > The noni plant was used in traditional healing throughout
Polynesia
> > and is being promoted worldwide for all kinds of health problems
> and
> > diseases.
> >
> > "It's a $2 billion product with incredible commercialization,"
> > Issell said. "We need to know if it helps more than harms
people."
> >
> > His study is the first to look at the effects of noni on people
and
> > see if it does what ads claim.
> >
> > "We've seen pretty much improvements across the board when we
look
> > statistically, but these are early days," Issell said. "It's not
> > telling us it's going to help more than harm people, but what
dose
> > we will test in the future."
> >
> > The team, including Faith Inoshita, clinical research nurse, is
> > trying to complete the first phase of the study to find the
right
> > dose that will be effective for people, Issell said. Then the
> > researchers will move to the next phase comparing that dose of
noni
> > a placebo.
> >
> > Different doses of freeze-dried extract of ripe noni from the
> Indian
> > mulberry plant are given to groups of five patients.
Participants
> > have advanced cancer that no other treatment would help.
> >
> > Capsules are increased gradually from four a day to 24 and the
> > patients are followed to see the effects.
> >
> > "We have been seeing increasing improvement in quality of life
> > measures," Issell said. "It's very interesting. We're getting
> > improvement at higher dose levels compared to a lower dose."
> >
> > Dr. Adrian Franke, associate specialist, and Laurie Custer,
> research
> > associate, are analyzing the ingredients of noni, as well as
blood
> > and urine samples from patients, to see what chemicals may have
> anti-
> > cancer activity.
> >
> > "We're measuring different markers," Issell said. "Once we have
> > something we can feel confident about, we will use it to
> standardize
> > noni because there are hundreds of different products now from
> > juice, with additional things to mask the dose."
> >
> > Noni Maui is providing fruit grown on the Big Island for the
study,
> > which requires a consistent supply, Issell said: "We have quite
a
> > lot of capsules and will continue up to 40 (per day) if we need
to."
> >
> > The first phase of the study began with National Institutes of
> > Health funding and it is continuing with support from the Hawaii
> > Community Foundation, Issell said.
> >
> > He said the issue with cancer drugs is to find the maximum
> tolerated
> > dose that's most likely to have an anti-cancer effect.
> >
> > "Here, we haven't found the maximum-tolerated dose," he
said. "We
> > have to find the optimal quality of life sustaining dose. It's a
> > complex question."
> >
> > Patients fill out questionnaires about how they're feeling, how
> > their pain is, their fatigue and how they function.
> >
> > Gotay said patients are still tolerating the doses with no side
> > effects. "We haven't observed any worsening of the quality of
life.
> > In fact, even though these patients tend to have advanced
disease,
> > their quality of life has pretty much maintained steady or
gotten
> > better in some cases."
> >
> > She said they're looking at the well-being of the patients from
> many
> > aspects and "people are holding their own."
> >
> > The participants "are amazingly committed," Gotay said. "They
have
> > serious conditions and high hopes for treatment and they're very
> > eager to take their pills. They're very conscientious about it.
> > They're trying to help us and themselves, too, and future
patients.
> >
> > "It's a long ways from even identifying, say it were to work, why
> it
> > works, what are the active ingredients," Gotay said.
> >
> > Noni is a substance that hasn't followed drug lab development, so
> it
> > isn't known exactly what's in it, how it works on the body or
what
> > kind of patients it would make a difference in, she said.
> >
> > For instance, she asked, "Would it be effective in people with
> > earlier stage disease? We can't test that in the (present)
study."
> >
> > Issell gets inquiries about noni from all over the world, Gotay
> > pointed out: "That's partly why we are so cautious. We want to
make
> > sure (of the results)."
> >
> > Franke and his team is looking at how the ingredients affect
> > different systems of the body, Gotay said. "There are so many
> > different possibilities of what might be going on."
> >
> > He gave different doses of noni to healthy volunteers -- Cancer
> > Research Center employees -- and drew their blood over an
> eight-hour
> > period to see how noni processed in healthy people to compare
with
> > cancer patients.
> >
> > For more information about the noni study, call the clinical
trials
> > unit, 586-2979.