Find a Vitamin or Supplement NONI

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Noni is a small evergreen tree in the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Australia, and India that often grows among lava flows. Historically, noni was used to make a red or yellow dye for clothing. It was also used as medicine, usually applied to the skin.

Today, noni fruit, leaves, flowers, stems, bark, and roots are still used to make medicine for a long list of ailments. However, the effectiveness of noni for these uses has not been proven. A study of noni freeze-dried fruit extract is underway at The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, but the results are not yet in. In the meantime, the FDA has issued multiple warnings to noni manufacturers about health claims that aren’t backed up by fact.

People take noni by mouth for colic, convulsions, cough, diabetes, painful urination, stimulating menstrual flow, fever, liver disease, constipation, vaginal dischargeduring pregnancy, malarial fever, and nausea. It is also used for smallpox, enlarged spleen, swelling, asthma, arthritis and other bone and joint problems, cancer,cataracts, colds, depression, digestive problems, and gastric ulcers. Other uses include high blood pressure, infections, kidney disorders, migraine headache, premenstrual syndrome, stroke, pain, and sedation.

The fruit juice is used for arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle aches and pains, menstrual difficulties, headaches, heart disease, AIDS, cancers, gastric ulcers, sprains, depression, senility, poor digestion, atherosclerosis, circulation problems, and drug addiction.

Uses and Pharmacology

  Cancer

Anticancer effects of reishi have been reported largely from in vivo experiments, and data from clinical trials have been published. It is generally accepted that the anticancer effects are due to immune enhancement and may be exhibited from diverse chemical constituents in reishi.Experiments focused on the stimulatory effects of the higher molecular weight polysaccharides (eg, ganopoly, beta-d-glucan, GL-1) on the immune system,  and the suppressive effect of the triterpenes (eg, ganoderic acid) on the growth and invasive behavior of cancer cells.An ethanol soluble compound ganoderol B binds to androgen receptors and inhibits the sterol enzyme 5-alpha-reductase in experiments in rats.
Clinical data
Clinical trials have been conducted in patients with advanced cancer. Not all published trials are randomized and blinded. Ganopoly in doses up to 5.4 g daily (equivalent to 81 g of the fruiting body) for 12 weeks were used. Increased cellular immunity indices were reported in 80% of cancer patients in one trial.  Quality of life improved in 65% of patients in another trial.  In a further trial, varying results were obtained. It was proposed that ganopoly could reverse the immunosuppressive effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 
In a case report of the effect of lingzhi on gastric large B-cell lymphoma, the patient consumed 3 times the recommended dose for 5 days (60 capsules daily). Histological changes were recorded 11 days later, showing only a dense infiltrate of T lymphocytes remaining. 
Cardiovascular effects
The effect of reishi on the cardiovascular system has been investigated. Decreases in high blood pressure were reported to be attributed to the ganoderic acids.Angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibiting triterpenes from reishi have been described. Inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis, enhanced antioxidase activity, decreased platelet aggregation, and reduced lipid peroxidation have been demonstrated in animal and in vitro experiments.
Diabetes
In animal experiments, ganopoly affected carbohydrate metabolism and promoted insulin secretion. In a clinical trial of patients with type 2 diabetes, ganopoly 1,800 mg 3 times daily reduced postprandial glucose values. The glucans ganoderan A and B (glucans) inhibited hypoglycemia in clinical studies.
Hepatitis
In in vitro and in vivo animal experiments, hepatoprotection by extracts of ganoderma against induced liver damage has been demonstrated. Polysaccharide ganopoly therapy for 6 months resulted in normalization of aminotransferase levels in 33% and cleared serum hepatitis B surface antigen in 13% of trial participants compared with control.

Ganoderma Lucidum (Reishi) Research

Toxicology

There are few reports of toxicity with the use of reishi mushroom.

Botany

The reishi mushroom is a purplish-brown fungus with a long stalk, brown spores, and a fan-shaped cap with a shiny, varnish-coated appearance. Reishi grows on decaying wood or tree stumps, 1 preferring the Japanese plum tree but also found on oak. The mushroom is native to China, Japan, and North America but is cultivated throughout other Asian countries. Cultivation of reishi is a long, complicated process. The reishi grows in 6 colors, each thought to have different characteristics and known as: Aoshiba (blue reishi), Akashiba (red reishi), Kishiba (yellow reishi), Shiroshiba (white reishi), Kuroshiba (black reishi), and Murasakishiba (purple reishi). 2 , 3

History

Reishi has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 4,000 years for treating fatigue, asthma, cough, and liver ailments, and to promote longevity. 2 The Chinese name lingzhi means “herb of spiritual potency.” 2 A Japanese name for the reishi is mannentake , meaning “10,000-year-old mushroom.” Reishi's use is documented in the oldest Chinese medical text, which is more than 2,000 years old. 4 Cultivation of reishi began in the 1980s. A survey conducted in Hong Kong found G. lucidum to be the third most common herbal preparation taken by preoperative surgical patients. 5

Chemistry

The reishi mushroom is high in polysaccharide content with at least 36 different compounds identified, 6 including beta-d-glucan and GL-1. 2 , 3 , 7 Triterpene constituents also have been analyzed. 8 Triterpene antioxidants, including ganoderic acids A, B, C, and D; ganoderol A and B; ganoderol A; lucidenic acid B, and ganodermanontriol have been found in reishi. 1 , 2 , 6 , 9 , 10 , 11 Terpenoids 1, 2, and 3, and terpenes lucidenic acid O and lucidenic lactone are also present. 3 , 6 , 12 A peptidoglycan from reishi contained approximately 7% protein and 76% carbohydrate. 13 Certain enzymes from reishi have been reported, 14 as well as minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Lanostan, coumarins, ergosterol, and cerevisterol are also components of reishi.