Miracle fruit is an evergreen shrub that grows in West Africa. The berry, leaf, and seed oil are used as medicine. People use miracle fruit for diabetes, obesity, taste disturbances in people treated with cancer drugs, and other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses. Don't confuse miracle fruit with aloe (miracle fruit), gymnema (miracle plant), and jiaogulan (miracle grass).
The miracle fruit plant, Synsepalum dulcificum, is a bright red berry about the size of a coffee bean. It’s indigenous to West and Central Africa, including the countries of Congo, Nigeria, and Ghana, and it’s gaining popularity across the globe for its taste-altering properties and potential medicinal benefits.
Synsepalum dulcificum fruits
Also known as miracle plant, plant berry, and red berry, the miracle fruit is aptly named. The berry is high in miraculin, a type of glycoprotein, which is a protein with sugar molecules attached to amino acids.
Miraculin binds to taste receptors that are near the sweet receptor sites in your mouth, sweetening the taste of sour or acidic foods, such as vinegar, lemons, pickles, and mustard.
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These taste changes last for about 30 minutes, or until they’re diluted by saliva.
Culinary and Food Manufacturing Applications
Miraculin’s taste-altering properties make miracle fruit an attractive culinary and food manufacturing ingredient. It contains an orange-red hue that can be used as a food coloring agent for sugar solutions and carbonated beverages.
While it doesn’t further sweeten foods that are already sweet, such as chocolate, in addition to making predominantly sour foods sweeter, it improves the flavor of less sour foods like tomatoes and strawberries.
Miraculin’s ability to mask sour flavors makes it an ideal low calorie replacement for sugar. It can be used in weight-management products.
In Ghana, the miracle fruit is used to sweeten sour foods and beverages, such as kenkey, koko, and palm wine.
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Miracle Fruit: How to Trick Your Taste Buds
Traditional Medicinal Uses
In some African countries, all parts of the miracle fruit plant - but particularly its leaves - play an essential role in traditional medicine. In Benin, the leaves are used to treat diabetes, hyperthermia, and enuresis (bedwetting). In Nigeria, they’re used to help manage diabetes, asthma, and weight, as well as help treat cancer and male infertility.
In Tanzania and Malaysia, the leaves are used in postnatal care. The root of the miracle fruit is used to treat tuberculosis and cough and increase sexual potency in Benin. Nigerians also use it to treat gonorrhea.
In Congo and Benin, the bark can be used to treat erectile dysfunction and alleviate symptoms of prostate diseases. When chewed, the branches may act as a natural toothbrush.
Potential Health Benefits
Animal studies suggest that the miracle fruit plant may help reduce metabolic stress related to conditions like obesity, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.
- May help manage blood sugar levels: Rats treated with miracle fruit plant experienced improved blood sugar management and immune response. In one study, rats with diabetes experienced greater improvements in blood sugar levels after receiving miracle fruit treatments than they did after receiving metformin, a drug commonly used in the treatment of diabetes. That said, since these studies were conducted in animals, research in humans is needed before we can draw conclusions.
- May help prevent cancer: Parts of the miracle fruit plant are rich in flavonoids and terpenoids, which may have cancer-preventing properties. In vitro studies suggest that these antioxidants may reduce the spread of malignant cancer cells, including those in the colorectal area. In addition, parts of the miracle fruit plant are rich in episyringaresinol, an antioxidant that slows the aging process and may help prevent skin cancer. However, more human research is needed.
- May help improve symptoms of gout: Laboratory and animal studies suggest that extracts of the miracle fruit plant may help improve blood uric acid levels, which can cause gout when they’re too high. Therefore, it may serve as a potential treatment for gout. In fact, miracle fruit may help improve blood uric acid levels more efficiently than allopurinol, a drug commonly prescribed to treat gout.
- May act as an anticonvulsant: A controlled study investigating the anticonvulsant potential of miracle fruit suggested that antioxidant-rich parts of the seed may protect against death and reduce recovery time after a seizure. Yet again, research in humans is needed.
For individuals experiencing changes in taste due to chemotherapy, miraculin’s taste-altering properties may be leveraged to improve the taste of food. As such, it may help people eat more.
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Research and Regulatory Status
While miracle fruit plant has been used for generations in ethnomedicine, studies evaluating its effectiveness and toxicity are few and in the infancy stages. The majority of such studies were published in the last couple of decades.
Although miraculin is recognized as a food additive by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare and classified as a novel or new food in the European Union, its use has yet to be approved in the United States.
Precautions and Warnings
With preliminary studies suggesting that extracts from the miracle fruit plant may reduce blood sugar levels, it should be used with caution in people at risk of experiencing low blood sugar levels, such as those with diabetes.
When taken by mouth: There isn't enough reliable information to know if miracle fruit is safe or what the side effects might be. Miracle fruit might cause an allergic reaction in some people.
When applied to the skin: There isn't enough reliable information to know if miracle fruit is safe or what the side effects might be. Miracle fruit might cause an allergic reaction in some people.
Special Precautions and Warnings:
- Pregnancy and breast-feeding: There isn't enough reliable information to know if miracle fruit is safe to use when pregnant or breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.
- Allergies: People with allergies to other substances, such as peanut, latex, peach, and soy, might also be allergic to miracle fruit.
- Diabetes: Miracle fruit might lower your blood sugar. As a result, your diabetes medications might need to be adjusted by your healthcare provider.
Interactions: Moderate Interaction - Be cautious with this combination. Miracle fruit might lower blood sugar. Diabetes medications are also used to lower blood sugar. Taking miracle fruit along with diabetes medications might cause your blood sugar to go too low. Monitor your blood sugar closely. Some medications used for diabetes include glimepiride (Amaryl), glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase PresTab, Micronase), insulin, metformin (Glucophage), pioglitazone (Actos), rosiglitazone (Avandia), and others.
Dosing: The appropriate dose of miracle fruit depends on several factors such as the user's age, health, and several other conditions. At this time there is not enough scientific information to determine an appropriate range of doses for miracle fruit. Keep in mind that natural products are not always necessarily safe and dosages can be important. Be sure to follow relevant directions on product labels and consult your pharmacist or physician or other healthcare professional before using.
Kalanchoe Pinnata: Another "Miracle Leaf"
Species of the genus Kalanchoe have a long history of therapeutic use in ethnomedicine linked to their remarkable healing properties. Some members of the genus Kalanchoe have a long history of therapeutic use and are known as “miracle leaf” because of their remarkable healing properties and traditional use in the treatment of several diseases and disorders.
Kalanchoe pinnata flower
Kalanchoe pinnata, commonly known as cathedral bells, air plant, life plant, miracle leaf, and love bush, is a succulent plant native to Madagascar. It is a popular houseplant and has become naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas.
The leaves of this species are thick, fleshy, elliptical in shape, curved, with a crenate or serrated margin, often reddish. The leaves are remarkable for their ability to produce bulbils. At their margin, between the teeth, adventitious buds appear, which produce roots, stems and leaves. This is a fairly common trait in the section Bryophyllum.
The terminal inflorescence is a panicle, with many pendent, red-orange flowers. The calyx is formed of a long tube, red at the base, veined with yellowish green (or green spotted with reddish brown), with four very small triangular lobes at the end. The tubular corolla, with a pronounced constriction separating the subspherical part of the ovoid part, is terminated by four lobes which reaches 5 cm (2.0 in) in length. It is yellowish in color with red-purple streaks. The eight stamens, each about 4 cm (1.6 in) long, are in two whorls, welded on the corolla.
In temperate regions, Kalanchoe pinnata is grown as an indoor ornamental plant. Like most succulents, it cannot survive hard frost and will not thrive in environments in which the temperature drops below 10 °C (50 °F). It favours well-drained soil, the roots being otherwise susceptible to rot.
In traditional medicine, the juice of the leaves is also used for kidney stones; although there is ongoing research into and some scientific evidence for this use, further research is required. In the French Antilles, Kalanchoe pinnata called locally as zeb maltet, is used in local application against headaches.
For the people of the Amazon, Kalanchoe has multiple uses: the Creoles use it roasted against inflammations and cancer and as an infusion, and as a popular remedy for fevers.
Phytochemical studies of Kalanchoe pinnata have identified the presence of triterpenes, steroid, phenanthrene, flavonoid, flavones, chalcones, taraxasterol, aurones, phenolic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, malic, oxalic and ferulic acid. Bufadienolides and phenanthrene are toxic compounds.
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