Over the weekend I was invited to a health talk at a posh 5-star hotel in the city centre listening to someone talking about mangosteen juice! Mind you this is a Sunday and in the hot afternoon sun I had to cajole myself to go and listen to this supposedly interesting talk. The invitation was through an acquaintance whom I met 2 days earlier, and having revealed my interest in health and wellness he had casually asked me to attend.
And I was not disappointed because I gain so much of new information, though I found out later that some might need more evidence and research on what had been said. The talk was centred around some substances found in the rind of the fruit called xanthones. There are some 40 xanthones which are antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and antitumour agent. Video clips were shown on where the fruit was found and how an American gentleman did some research and a marketing genius to commercialise this queen of fruits found in abundance in South-East Asia. The juice was apparently made from the whole fruit, not just the white flesh.
The most interesting part was some life testimonial from a few people with various health problems, some being very serious like kidney failure and cancer!
A young gentleman aged around thirty with kidney failure and having on-going dialysis gave an account of how his lethargy after a dialysis session vanishes after drinking some of this mangosteen juice. He could hardly drive home without having to take a nap by the road-side but after consuming this wonderful juice he could drive all the way home and still left with some more energy - something he hadn't experience before.
Another middle-aged man who is suffering from nose cancer (nasopharyngeal cancer or NPC) gave an account of the devastating side-effects (hair loss) of chemotherapy that was banished after consuming a few bottles of the juice. From appearance this man certainly looked well and healthy until he gave his story. How amazing I thought!
Even a child with dengue fever was discharged from the hospital the next day after his mother made him drink some of this wonderful juice. Apparently this was the first case of its kind being shared.
Impressive testmonials! But take a look at this website www.mangosteen.com which gave a sceptical slant and a good account of what is science, non-science and non-sense about the product. Apparently, if the juice is made of the whole fruit it must be very dilute or chemically modified to mask the extremely bitter taste of the rind extract.
There are even booklets apparently written by a M.D. extolling the goodness of the product. But be wary of the hype that is going around this product. I think there is some goodness in this juice but the question is at what fair price?
Monday, 7 May 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
