අහු

අහු (Morinda citrifolia)ඉන්දියන් මල්බෙරි,බීච් මල්බෙරි චීස් ෆෘඩ් ආදී නම් වලින් හඳුන්වයි.මෙම ශාකය කෝපි පවුලට අයත්ය.නිජ භූමිය අග්නිදිග ආසියාවයි.ඉන්දීය උප මහද්වීපය පැසිපික් දූපත්,පොලිනීසියන් දූපත්,පෝටොරිකාව හා ඩොමිනිකන් ජනරජය වැනි රටවල මෙය ව්‍යාප්තව පවතී.දකුණු ආසියාතික රටවල විවිධ මිත්‍යා විශ්වාස ඇදහිලි අභිචාර ක්‍රම සදහා මෙම අහු ශාකයේ විවිධ කොටස් යොදාගනී.
මොරින්ඩා සිටිෆෝලියා(morinda citrifolia)යන උද්හිද නාමයේන් අහු ශාකය හදුන්වයි.ලංකාව,ඉන්දියාව,මලයාව,ශාන්තිකර දූපත් හා උතුරු ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව යන රටවල වැඩෙන වඩා උස නොයන අඩි 3-4 අතර උසැති ගසකි. රිකිලි සිනිඳුය ශාඛාකුඩාය.පත්‍රය  අණ්ඩාකරය,ඝණය,පත්‍රයේ නාරටිය ඉතා පැහැදිලිව පෙනේ පුෂ්පය සුදු පාටය , නාළාකාරය,මලක දිග අගලක් පමණය ගෙඩිය අණ්ඩාකාර අෂ්ටිලයකි. ඒය අගලක් පමණ දිගය, මාංසලය,මෙම ශාකය ලංකාවේ නිරිත දිග ප්‍රදේශයේ ගෙවතුමොරින්ඩා ට්ංක්ටෝරියානම්  ත්වත් අහු විශේෂයක් යාපනය, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය හා අනුරාධපුර යන වියලි ප්‍රදේශවල වැවේ. අහු දේවර්ගයම මුලේ පොත්තෙන් රතු පාට  සායම් තනා ගැනේ අහු රුබියාසේ (Rubiace) කුලයට අයත්ය.
Noni grows in shady forests as well as on open yellow shooes rocky or sandy shores. It reaches maturity in about 18 months and then yields between 4–8 කිලෝග්‍රෑම් (8.8–17.6 lb) of fruit every month throughout the year. It is tolerant ofsalinesoils, drought conditions, andsecondary soils. It is therefore found in a wide variety of habitats:volcanicterrains,lava-strewncoasts, and clearings orlimestoneoutcrops. It can grow up to 9 මීටර (30 ft) tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves.
The plantflowersand fruits all year round and produces a small white flower. The fruit is amultiple fruitthat has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also known ascheese fruitor evenvomit fruit. It is oval and reaches 4–7 සෙන්ටිමීටර (1.6–2.8 in) in size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains manyseeds. It is sometimes called starvation fruit. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as afamine foodand, in somePacific islands, even a staple food, either raw or cooked.අග්නිදිග ආසියාවnsandAustralian Aboriginesconsume the fruit raw with salt or cook it withcurry. The seeds are edible when roasted.
The noni is especially attractive toweaver ants, which make nests out of the leaves of the tree. These ants protect the plant from some plant-parasitic insects.  The smell of the fruit also attractsfruit bats, which aid in dispersing the seeds.
Nutritional information for noni fruit is  reported by the College of Tropical Agriculture,University of HawaiiatMānoawho published analyses of fruit
Analyzed as a whole fruit powder,noni fruit has excellent levels ofcarbohydratesanddietary fiber, providing 55% and 100% of theDietary Reference Intakes(DRI), respectively, in a 100 g serving. A good source ofprotein(12% DRI), noni pulp is low in totalfats(4% DRI).
These macronutrients evidently reside in thefruit pulp, as nonijuicehas sparse amounts of macronutrients.
The main micronutrient features of noni pulp powder include exceptionalvitamin Ccontent (10x DRI) and substantial amounts ofniacin(vitamin B3),ironandpotassium.Vitamin A,කැල්සියම්andසෝඩියම්are present in moderate amounts.
When noni juice alone is analyzed and compared to pulp powder, only vitamin C is retained at a high level, 42% of DRI.
Nutrient analyses for a major brand of noni blend juice were published in 2002 by the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission on Health and Consumer Protectionduring a test for public safety of noni juice. The major brand's ingredients include nonipuréeand juice concentrates fromgrapesandblueberries.
Excepting vitamin C content at 31% of DRI in each 100g, the juice had limited nutritional content. 100g of juice provides 8% of the DRI for carbohydrates, only traces of other macronutrients and low or trace levels of 10 essential vitamins, 7 essentialdietary mineralsand 18amino acids.
Although the most significant nutrient feature of noni pulp powder or juice is its high vitamin C content, this level in the noni juice blend provides only about half the vitamin C of a rawnavel orange.Sodium levels in the noni juice blend (about 3% of DRI)are multiples of those in an orange.  Although the potassium content appears relatively high for noni, this total is only about 3% of theRecommended Dietary Allowanceand so would not be considered excessive. The noni juice blend is otherwise similar in micronutrient content to a raw orange.
The history of published medical research on noniphytochemicalsnumbers only around a total of 110 reports which began appearing in the 1950s (searched in September 2008). Just since 2000, over 100 publications on noni have been published in medical literature, defining a relatively young research field. Noni research is at a preliminary stage, as it is mainly still in the laboratory asin vitroor basic animal experiments.
Noni fruit contains phytochemicals for which there are no established DRI values. Examples:
Although there is evidence from in vitro studies and laboratory models forbioactivityof each of the above phytochemicals, the research remains at best preliminary and too early to conclude anything about human health benefits provided by noni or its juice. Furthermore, these phytochemicals are not unique to noni, as nearly all exist in various plant foods.
Laboratory experiments demonstrated that dietary noni juice increased physical endurance in mice.Apilot studyin distance runners showed increased endurance capacity following daily intake of noni juice over three weeks, an effect the authors attributed to increased antioxidant status.
සංස්කෘත වෛද්‍ය ග්‍රන්ථවල අහු හැදින්වෙන්නේ අච්ජුක යන නාමයෙනි. අහු ශාකයේ කොළ, නැටි සහ මුල් ඖෂධ වශයෙන් ගනු ලබයි. අහු විෂසමනය කරයි. වණ සුව කොට මස ලියවයි.ලේ වැගිරීම නතරකිරිමේ ශක්තියක් ඇත.උණ,අතීසාර හා වාතරෝග නසයි.ගෙඩි පැසවීම සඳහා දේශීය වෙදකමෙහි  අහු නැටි ගනු ලැබේ.අමු අහු ගෙඩි බැද ලුණු සමඟ  ගෑමේන් දත් මුල් සවී වන බව දේශීය වෛද්‍යවරු කියතී.අහූ ගෙඩි ශාන්තී කර්ම සඳහා ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගනු ලැබේ.
Noni's reputation for uses infolk medicineextends over centuries. It is widely used in India and being explored by medical researchers for use in the treatment of cancer. No medical applications as those discussed below have been verified by modern science primarily in the United States; where as the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) which regulates the food & pharmecuetical industry in the nation implemented its own regulation that "Only a drug can cure, prevent or treat a disease." Therefore anyone else who claims a cure otherwise may be subject to false claims.
Inචීනය,Samoa,Japan, andTahiti, various parts of the tree (leaves, flowers, fruits, bark, roots) serve as tonics and to containfever, to treateyeandskinproblems,gumandthroatproblems as well asconstipation,stomachpain, orrespiratorydifficulties.InMalaysia, heated noni leaves applied to thechestare believed to relievecoughs,nausea, orcolic.
The noni fruit is taken, inIndochinaespecially, forasthma,lumbago, anddysentery.As for external uses, unripe fruits can be pounded, then mixed withsaltand applied to cut or brokenbones.In Hawaii, ripe fruits are applied to draw outpusfrom an infected boil. The green fruit, leaves and the root/rhizome have traditionally been used to treat menstrual cramps and irregularities, among other symptoms, while the root has also been used to treat urinary difficulties.
The bark of the great morinda produces a brownish-purplishdyeforbatikmaking; on theඉන්දුනීසියාවnisland ofJava, the trees are cultivated for this purpose. InHawaii, yellowish dye is extracted from its root in order to dye cloth.The fruit is used as a shampoo in Malaysia, where it is said to be helpful againsthead lice.
There have been recent applications also for the use of oil from noni seeds.Noni seed oil is abundant inlinoleic acidthat may have useful properties when applied topically on skin, e.g., anti-inflammation, acne reduction, moisture retention.
InSurinamand some other countries, the tree serves as a wind-break, as support forvinesand as shade forcoffeetrees.
ඇතැම් රටවල අහු කොළ ආහාරයට ගනී.