A search of the medical literature doesn't reveal much other than a couple of studies that support noni's reputation for pain relief and immune enhancement. However, all of this I learned after the following experience. I recently traveled to St. Thomas, a small island in the Caribbean, to visit family and friends and was shocked to hear everyone talking about noni juice. From the morning DJ on the most popular radio station in town to the half-dozen old ladies gathered around the table at Christmas dinner, I was hearing testimony after testimony, and shivered as I realized that Morinda was well on its way to turning all my friends and family into a community of MLM distributors. I was mortified and called aside her nephew, Ashton, a practical man and nobody's fool, to explain the financial dangers of buying this stuff.
Nobody buys noni juice.
He then reached in the fridge to retrieve the bottle of the cloudy purplish home brew, the Morinda Tahitian label tattered and faded, evidence of the many times the bottle had been washed and refilled. Ashton poured me a glass and it was good. Then came Morinda's Tahitian noni, but instead of bringing financial ruin, it accidentally touched off a rediscovery of native medicinal plants. Now everyone is growing their own noni tree. So next time you're in a room of natural medicine types, beware of the MLMs but remember that wisdom can come from anywhere.