Noni juice is not hepatotoxic

During 2004, an Austrian case report was published in which it is suggested that noni fruit juice may be responsible for acute hepatitis [2] .A second report was published in the August 2005 issue of this journal in which noni juice was again suggested to be the cause of two other cases of acute hepatitis in Austria [3] .In both publications, the authors suggest the presence of anthraquinones in the juice may be responsible for the liver dysfunction observed in their patients.However, experimental data fails to reveal any direct liver toxicity from noni juice.TAHITIAN NONI ® Juice, the brand associated with the latest case reports, was investigated in a human clinical study (unpublished data.Mugglestone C et al.A single centre, double-blind, three dose level, parallel group, placebo controlled safety study with TAHITIAN NONI ® Juice in healthy subjects, BIBRA International Ltd.UK, 2003).Ninety-six subjects were randomly assigned to four groups.These groups included a placebo group and three test groups, receiving up to a dose of 750 mL TAHITIAN NONI Juice per day.For 28 d, subjects drank 750 mL of either the placebo or juice containing one of three doses of TAHITIAN NONI Juice.Several parameters were investigated with measurements being made at study screening, d 0 (baseline), wk 2, wk 4, and wk 6.The measurements most applicable to the evaluation of liver function and hepatocellular disease were alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (BIL), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), total protein, and prothrombin time (which is useful for determining the extent of hepatocellular disease).Other study measurements included hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume, red cell count, activated partial thrombin time, total and differential white cell count, platelet count, lipids (LDL, HDL, cholesterol, triglycerides), creatine kinase, creatinine, gammaglutamyl transferase, glucose, total protein, and uric acid.Additionally, urinalysis involved semi-quantitative ("dipstick") analysis for leucocytes, nitrite, urobilinogen, protein, pH, blood, specific gravity, ketones, bilirubin and glucose.Where necessary, a urine cyto-bacteriological examination was performed to characterize or count crystals, casts, epithelial cells, white blood cells, red blood cells and bacteria.Vital signs were measured, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate.ECG measurements (12 lead) were also made for each subject.All adverse events were recorded.Selected mean laboratory values for the various groups are presented in Table 1.Differences between mean values were clinically insignificant and well within the range of normal values.Furthermore, there was no evidence of any dose-related adverse events.The study results indicate that TAHITIAN