Make Fresh Noni (Morinda citrifolia)

Juice at home

Jian Yang, Ph.D.

Guam Cooperative
Extension Service
College of Natural and
Applied Science
University of Guam
September 29, 2010
 Part I:
Health benefits and shelf-life of
noni products
 Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.)

• Distribution
– Southeast Asia
– Australia
– Pacific islands

• As a folk medicine
– Leaves, fruits, and
roots
– Over 2,000 years
 Noni Fruits in Hawaii

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ctahr2001/commoditities/noni
Noni Fruits on Guam
 Commercial Noni Products
• Juice
• Powders
• Tea
• Soaps
• Body Lotions
• Skin spray
(http://getnoni.com)

• Over 200 companies commercially sell noni products

• Noni products are distributed in more than 50 countries
 Processing: Noni Juice

Fermentation

(http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ctahr2001/commoditities/noni)
 Processing: Noni Powders

(http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ctahr2001/commoditities/noni)
 Claims and Health Benefits of Noni

• Inflammation • Tuberculosis
• Headache • Diarrhea
• Fever • Gastric ulcer
• Sore gums • Indigestion
• Respiratory disorders • Diabetes
• Sore throat with cough • High blood pressure
• Infections • Menstrual cramps

McClathey C. 2002. Integrative Cancer Therapies. 1(2): 110-120.

 Biological Activity of Noni

• Stimulate immunological activity

• Anti-tumor activity
• Antioxidant activity
• Anti-bacterial activity
• Antiviral activity
• Anti-tubercular effects
• Analgesic activity
• Anti-hypotensive activity
• Anti-stress
Antioxidant activity of noni fruit
by DPPH Assay
Antioxidant activity of noni fruits by
ABTS Assay
Antioxidant activity of noni fruits
by ORAC methods
 Antimicrobial activity (MIC) of noni
E. coli O157:H7
fruit essential oil

Salmonella enteritidis
Log reduction of foodborne pathagens
GC/MS indicate octanoic acid is one of major
component to inactivate foodbonre pathogens
 Phytochemicals

• Flavonoids
• Polysaccharides
• Glycoside
• Iridoids
• Ligands
• Triterpenoids
• Anthraquinones
 Bioactive Components of Noni
• Scopoletin • Vitamin A
• Octoanoic acid • Flavone glycosides
• Potassium • Linoleic acid
• Vitamin C • L-asperu loside
• Terpenoids • Caproic acid
• Alkaloids • Caprylic acid
• Anthraquinonoes • Ursolic acid
• β-sitosterol • Rutin
• Carotene • Putative proxeronine

Wang et al. 2002. Acta Pharmacol Sin, 23(12): 1127-1141.

 Key compounds
• Scopoletin: antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective,
anti-radicals
• Rutin: anti-radicals, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial
• Ursolic acid: anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotection, antitumnor,
anti-microbial
• Asperuloside: tonics, sedatives, cough medicines
• Irioids: antihepatoxic, antitumor, immunomodulator, purgative
activities
• Anthraquinones: anticancer
• Octanoic acid: antimicroical
• Polysaccharides: stimulating immune-systems, anti-cancer
Total Phenol Content of Noni Fruits
Ascorbic Acid Content of Noni Fruits
 Quality of dietary supplements

• Current Good Manufacturing Practices for

Dietary Supplements (FDA, 2007)
– Require the manufacturer to establish and meet
specification for identity, purity, strength, and
composition and limits on contaminants to prevent
adulteration during manufacturing, packaging,
labeling, and holding
Effects of processing and storage on quality

• Factors affecting bioactive components and

biological activities
– Time, temperature, light, oxygen

• How stable of bioactive components and

biological activities
– During processing
– During storage
Comparison fresh noni juice with
commercial products
Compare noni powder with commercial
products
HPLC Profile
Anti-cancer effects
 Antimicrobial activity of various juices
on E. coli O157:H7
Fresh NJ
Fermented NJ
Commercial NJ
Grape Juice

10.00

7.50

Log 10 CFU/g
5.00

2.50

0
0 100 200 300 400
Concentration (µl/ml)
 Shelf-life
• Shelf-life
– Expiration date, best by or best before
– Shall be supported by data and rationale that the
product meets established specifications at the
indicated date (GMP’s 2002)

• Justify the structure/function claim

– An amount of the effective substance sufficiently
remains in the product as of the product’s
expiration date (80%) (Labuza, 2002)
 Shelf-life of noni products
• No clear expiration date
– only months and date, no year

• Up to 18-24 months
 What is in the bottle?
• Quality
– Quantity of bioactive components in finished noni
products
– Efficacy of biological activities in finished noni
products
• No clear structure/function claims
– “Health”, “pure”, “feel so good”, “everyone,
everywhere”, “finest product”
– Uncertain what is in the bottle in noni product?
 Estimation of the shelf-life of noni
products
• Based on marker compounds
– Scopoletin, rutin, ursolic acid,β-sitosterol,
asperuloside, damnacanthal
• Shelf-life indicators
– Antioxidant capacity
– Efficacy of inhibition of Escherichia coli growth
and Hela cancer-cell proliferation
• Criteria
– 20% or 50% loss of original quantity
 Part II:
Effects of processing and storage
on antioxidant characteristics of
noni products
Antioxidant capacity during storage of Fresh Noni Juice
Room at 25°C Refrigerator at 4°C Freezer at -18°C
150

TAC EVAA (mg/100 ml Juice)

125

100

75

50

25

0
0 8 16 32 64 101
Time (days)
 Dehydration of Noni Puree by Hot Air

140 50°C

TAC EVAA (mg/100 ml puree)

120 60°C

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 4 8 14 24
Time (hours)
Light Effect on RSC of noni Juice
Light Effects on RSA of Noni Powder
Kinetic reaction of noni juice
to DPPH⋅ radicals
Kinetic reaction of noni powder
to DPPH⋅ radicals
Light effect on noni juice
Light effect on noni powders
Light and temperature effects on noni powders
Light and temperature effects on noni powders
Correlation of TAC and ascorbic acid
Correlation of TAC and total phenolics
 Part III:
New approaches to make
noni juice
 Challenges to make noni juice

• No juice obtained by simply pressing or

squeezing noni fruits
– Barriers by polymeric carbohydrates, such as
pectin, hemicellulose, and cellulose

• Alternative approaches to noni juice

– Enzymatic liquefaction
– Freezing technology
 Enzyme liquefaction

• Enzymes: cellulases, hemicellulases, and

pectolytic enzymes

• Improve the juice yield, release cell content,

reduce viscosity, and clarify juice
Effect of enzyme treatments on the yield, pH
and Brix° of noni juice
Enzymes (1%) Yield (%) pH Brix (°)

Control 28.3 4.49 10.9

1XL 53.3 3.59 11.5

SPL 54.7 3.60 12.3

Cellulase 56.3 3.87 12.0

Amylase 34.7 4.48 10.9

β-Glycosidase 39.0 4.29 11.53

Noni fruits were blanched, treated with 1% enzyme and incubated at 45°C for 5 hours
 Effect of enzymes on the antioxidant activity, ascorbic
acid and total phenols of noni juice

Enzymes DPPH ORAC TEAC Ascorbic Total

acid phenols
Control 152.3 1999 432.1 172.3 206.7

1XL 167.2 2175 402.8 195.2 230.6

SPL 191.5 2114 446.2 223.6 254.8

Cellulase 181.1 2029 466.7 212.3 238.9

Amylase 149.0 1879 436.1 188.4 225.5

β-Glycosidase 136.4 2098 445.4 172.9 249.8

 Color characteristics of enzyme treated
noni juice
Enzymes L* a* b* Hue angle Chroma

Control 77.79 -1.17 22.90 -56.65 22.93

1XL 84.71 -1.65 16.16 -55.75 16.25

SPL 85.18 -1.54 15.80 -55.84 15.87

Cellulase 85.21 -1.26 15.06 -56.08 15.11

Amylase 81.94 -1.12 17.01 -56.37 17.05

β-Glycosidase 57.96 10.67 18.86 46.56 21.68

 Effect of SPL concentration on enzyme
treated noni juice

Conc Yield pH Brix° DPPH ORAC TEAC Ascorb Total

(%) (%) ic acid phenol
s
0 20.7 4.5 14.6 150.4 1780 317.2 197.8 258.6
0.25 46.4 3.8 14.8 206.3 2120 385.1 231.5 277.4
0.5 52.2 3.7 15.4 204.4 1913 389.3 234.6 281.3
1.0 55.0 3.7 15.7 205.7 2253 368.4 232.5 266.3
1.5 55.0 3.7 15.9 210.6 2136 375.5 238.4 285.5
2.0 54.7 3.7 15.6 209.0 2447 378.1 219.9 276.0
 Freezing-juicing technology

• Break cell walls by ice crystals

• Native enzymes break down pectin,
hemicellulose, and cellulose during thawing
• Making noni juice at relative low temperature,
which retains phytochemicals and nutrients of
original noni fruits
• The freezing-juicing processing is much more
efficient than the traditional fermentation
 Methods

• Noni fruits
• Clean
• Ripening
• Freezing
• Thawing
• Bottling
• Pasteurization
• Storage
 Quality of noni juice made with
freezing-juicing method
• Yield: 35-50%
• pH: 3.8-4.0
• Brix°: 8-12
• Antioxidant capacity: 165-260 mg vitamin C
equivalent/100 ml
• Total phenolic content: 152-216 mg gallic acid/100 ml
• Vitamin C content: 176-205 mg/100 ml
• Sensory quality: light yellow
 Summary
• Fresh noni fruit possesses significant antioxidant
capacity
• Antioxidant capacity of noni juice decreased much
faster than noni powder during storage
• Storage in freezer retains more antioxidant capacity
of noni products than in refrigerator and at room
temperature
• Light exhibits significant effects on reduction of
antioxidant characteristics of noni juice
• Enzyme liquefaction technology and freezing
technology improve the quality of noni juice
 Future Research

• Identifying marker compounds and indicators

in noni (Morinda citrifolia) products for shelf-
life determination and quality control

• Funded by USDA TSTAR program

(2010-2012)
 Objectives of the new noni project
• Identify marker compounds and/or potential
indicators that can be used to determine shelf-life and
control quality of noni products

• Determine shelf-life of noni products by stability

studies using the Accelerated Shelf Life Test with
identified marker compounds and/or indicators

• Validate the shelf-life of commercial noni products

and predict shelf-life of noni products under various
storage conditions
 Expected results

• Estimate the right shelf-life of noni products

• Communicate results with noni processors,

farmers, and consumers in the Pacific islands
 Part IV:
Making noni juice using freezing-
juicing method
 Acknowledgements

• USDA CSREES T-STAR Program

• USDA DOD Minority Program
• USDA CSREES Multistate Regional Project