Noni – Clinical Trials

Science says Noni is very helpful for feeling better after C-Word, and reduces the hurtfulness of medical care (surgery, chemo).  Noni helped with hangovers, multiple infections, repairing the damage of smoking, and reducing the side effects of chemo. (1)

History

The fruit has been used as a food source both unripe and ripe. The ripe fruits are mashed and cooked or eaten raw, and the unripe fruits sliced and cooked. Both ripe and unripe fruits are used as external poultices for skin problems like cold sores, scrapes and cuts and other minor wounds. It is also prominently used as a medicine for multiple purposes. These uses include but are not limited to: toothaches, hypertension, sore throat, stomach ulcers, intestinal worms, gum infections, a mild laxative, a general tonic for energy and wellness, and even to repel bad spirits (it was believed the foul smell kept them away).

The leaves traditionally are used as a poultice for headaches, fractures, abdominal swelling, as a diaphoretic and for stonefish stings. Internally, they are used for stomach ulcers, vitamin deficiency and to wrap food in for cooking. The seeds are mashed and applied to the scalp to kill off bugs and as a general skin repellant, a decoction of the bark is drunk to treat jaundice and hypertension. The wood of noni has been used to create canoe parts and tools, and the bark contains a yellow dye used for dying (the roots contain a reddish dye used the same way). (2)

Herbalist Comments

Morinda – Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) is the small tropical evergreen tree native to South-East Asia whose whole fruit, juice, seed, leaf, bark and root are used as sources of traditional medicines by Australian aboriginal, Pacific Island and South-East Asian communities. These plant parts have shown antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.

Noni is one of the anti-microbial plants in GI Cleanse, which was the medicine that helped many of our patients find a healing trend.

Cinnamon – Clinical Trials

Many studies validate the use of cinnamon therapeutically for blood sugar balance, and female hormone balance, including effectiveness with Menopause and PCOS.  (1)

History

Avicenna, in his Canon of Medicine, one of the most influential medical books in history, writes of Cinnamon being markedly heating and drying and describes it as being ‘highly attenuant (blood-thinning), and cleansing. It is useful in cough and it clears chest congestion, it removes hepatic obstructions and strengthens liver and stomach’. He wrote that ‘the oil of cinnamon is a wonderful drug for chorea’ i.e. what we would today call ‘involuntary movement disorders. (2)

Herbalist Comments

Cinnamon is taken for uterine and gastrointestinal hemorrhage and for nose bleeds. Because of its astringent nature, it is used for diarrhea, and it is an effective nausea and indigestion remedy. In Chinese medicine, cinnamon is used to warm the interior, for aching of joints, chest obstruction, and phlegm retention. Cinnamon bark is one of the most important herbs in the materia medica for warming the body, activating blood, dispelling internal coldness, and improving digestion.

American Botanical Summary (3)