Noni craze on the rise
THE once lowly noni tree and fruit that for long grew wild here is being sought after as a miracle medicine with amazing powers to cure many ailments. It has been gaining popularity along the coast with news that the extract is much sought after overseas where it is bottled and sold in pharmacies. Imported bottled noni is also on sale in Georgetown at between $3,500 and $1,000 each, according to size. However, four to five of the fruits can be had for $100 at vendors in Georgetown. The craze to obtain the fruit and use it is spreading and noni is fast becoming a household word and a common member of the medicine cabinet of the average Guyanese. Little noni businesses have sprung up in Georgetown and other parts of the coast and vendors report brisk business selling the fruit. As more and more Guyanese join the mad rush to use the fruit to cure an ailment, Dr Joseph Haynes urges caution. Haynes, a doctor of naturopathic sciences, yesterday said noni is poisonous when used green. It must be in a ripened state, he stressed. It also has to be mixed with a fruit juice or water, he said. Although Haynes prescribes noni for some patients, he said he does not think it is a miracle fruit. Persons hoping to alleviate an illness have to stay away from the things that caused it in the first place, he advised. Haynes said he has had success with those persons who have used noni. There are claims that noni has helped conditions such as hepatitis `C', hernia, migraine, removal of moles and warts, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, sinus infections, gastric ulcers, menstrual cramps and pre-menopausal symptoms. Before it became popular in the Guyana, the large green leaves were used to alleviate pain. Many persons interviewed said they opt to blend it. Noni, which resembles a soursop or monkey apple, is green and as it ripens, becomes yellow, then white. It has dark spots on the skin and mostly a bunch of seeds underneath. The fruit has a queer smell. A young noni vendor, Murphy, bottles the juice to sell in the city. He yesterday said his method is to allow the fruit to decay, strain it and bottle the liquid. He sells a small bottle of the extract for $750. According to Murphy, the noni cured him of a persistent back pain he had for years. It also got rid of his dandruff and a bad cough, he said. Another vendor, sitting before a massive basket filled with noni near the Stabroek Market, said she used the `miracle' fruit to lower the sugar level in her blood. She swore that after one month, her sugar level had gone down so much that she had to use `sweet' to bring it back up to an acceptable status. "It's good, it's very good", she said yesterday. Another woman said she was using it to treat her fibroids. And a third wanted to try it for a bronchial disorder. "It cured my dandruff", one man said. He stressed that he does not use `bush' (herbal) medicine but decided to chance the noni and see how it works. The noni tree is common along the coast and there are several on the Georgetown sea wall. A homeless man who lives on a part of the sea wall yesterday said many people still do not know the properties of noni. "They play cricket with the fruit and they pelt each other with it. They destroy the leaves", he said. He seems to have developed some knowledge about the fruit since he offered suggestions on how it can be used and grown. He is also highly suspicious of foreigners who he said go to pick the fruits. He recalled that one man filled a huge bag to take away. And another paid him to get a piece he could plant. "They come with binoculars and spy between the bush for it. If they see it, they come back at night and get it", he said. (GWEN EVELYN)
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