Mangosteen: A Powerful Medicinal Fruit
Written by Sally Kaylor
Hippocrates, the world’s first practitioner of western medicine, advised that people let food be their medicine. Nevertheless in today’s world of fast food and additives, his advice is hard to follow. However, the discovery of one fruit from Southeast Asia, the mangosteen, can help people and the history of modern medicine come full circle.
Not related to the mango, the mangosteen is typically between one and three inches in diameter, approximately the size of a tangerine. It has a one-quarter to three-eighths inch thick purplish rind, a white pulp and between one and five seeds. Fully mature seeds lose their viability only five days after being removed from the fruit. The mangosteen tree, which is a flat-leafed evergreen, grows 20 to 80 feet high, requires seven to 10 years to mature, and then yields two crops annually. All crops must be harvested by hand. The trees cannot tolerate temperatures below 40 degrees or above 100 degrees. All attempts to grow the mangosteen trees north of 20 degrees latitude have not been successful. Today the fruit is grown in the tropical regions of Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, India, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Southern China, Burma and the Philippines.
It is widely believed that the mangosteen originated in the islands of Sunda and Molucca in the East Indies. In the year 600, scribes recorded the use of the mangosteen as a general remedy and healing agent. Approximately 1,000 years later in 1693, Laurentiers Garcin, a French physician and priest whose name is the basis for the mangosteen’s scientific name Garcinia Mangostana, discerned that the mangosteen aided in the treatment of people with intestinal inflammations. In 1810 the fruit was domesticated and cultivated in Thailand. Today the mangosteen is the national fruit of Thailand and is revered above all others because of its incredible taste and use as a general remedy and healing agent. For millennia healers have been utilizing the whole fruit as a tea to treat dysentery, diarrhea and urinary tract infections, to control fevers and to ward off all types of infections. Poultices are also used topically to treat eczema and other skin/wound conditions. In addition, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines have used mangosteen preparations for centuries.
So what makes this fruit so special? Everyone knows that all fruit has health benefits, but the mangosteen is the only one credited with the potential to help fight and/or reverse many health conditions. The whole mangosteen fruit including the pulp and rind contains xanthones. This likely unfamiliar term is used to describe a unique class of biologically active compounds, which demonstrate a number of pharmaceutical properties. About 200 xanthones have been found in nature, 43 of which are found in the mangosteen. Other xanthones are in lower plants but are not found in significant numbers. Research on xanthones can be found at www.pubmed.com
According to Dr. J. Frederic Templeman M.D. author of “Mangosteen, the gift your body deserves”,xanthone studies have revealed the following properties:
Anti-inflammatory activity capable of dampening the inflammation, which can lead to plaque rupture.
Antibacterial action to prevent the infection of plaques.
Antioxident activity (surpassing vitamin E) that protects the LDL particles from free radical damage in laboratory studies.
Anti-tumor efficacy (in vitro) of garcinone E (a mangosteen xanthone), surpassing the effects of five commonly used chemotherapy agents.
Induction of apoptosis (cell suicide) in tumor cells of several types of cancer.
The documented health benefits of anti-oxidants have prompted people to eat foods such as blueberries and raspberries, which contain 2,400 and 1,220 anti-oxidants. These numbers pale in comparison to the mangosteen’s 17,000 anti-oxidants. Previous studies and ongoing research recognize that potent antioxidant properties of the mangosteen’s xanthones may help achieve a healthy seasonal respiratory system, boost the immune system, promote joint flexibility, maintain intestinal health, support microbiological balance and provide positive mental support. This one fruit could do the work of several medications without harmful side effects!
“I predict that the mangosteen will be recognized in years to come as one of the great medical discoveries of all time,” said a physician, Bruce Wilken M.D.
With one delicious fruit and so many nutritional benefits, one may ask why this fruit has just recently been introduced into our culture. The answer is the mangosteen has the Natal Fruit Fly as an insect predator. This insect poses a possible threat to American citrus crops; therefore, the unprocessed fruit has never been imported to United States. Recently a desirable method of getting the whole fruit benefit has been developed. By using a juice formulation, researchers have made an exclusive puree of the complete mangosteen fruit harnessing the power of all its xanthones.
For anyone looking for optimal health and better nutrition, adding the mangosteeen juice may be part of the answer. Because the body has remarkable powers to repair itself if given proper care and nutrition, a whole food supplement offering powerful antioxidants and many other positive nutritional qualities may just be the medicine Hippocrates had in mind.
For more information on the mangosteen fruit or mangosteen juice, please contact Sally Kaylor at 814-251-2521 or visit www.sallykaylor.com
The Huntingdon Health and Wellness Association makes no medical claims. Contact your health professional about your own needs.