robi lee asked:


I work in Lower Manhattan and want to know what organic/health food store sells the fresh herbs: Purslane, Mangosteen and Goji Beans?

Oscar

Cindy Heller asked:


Mangosteen juice has become more popular because of its health benefits. Actually for centuries, people in the Southeast Asia have known that this kind of fruit juice offers health benefits to anyone who consumes it. People who promote the healing properties of mangosteen juice normally have experienced good things with it. Then these positive experiences are being spread by word of mouth for the most part and up to now, this juice can even be purchased on the internet.

Mangosteen fruit is believed to be originated from the Southeast Asia region. The tree needs tropical climate and a lot of rains to grow. It is difficult to cultivate them in the Western world because they need temperatures that always above forty degrees Fahrenheit. The fruit is really delicate and picky because it does not do well with shipping and foreign environments. It grows at a very slow rate and typically will reach maturity after ten years when it will produce a huge number of mangosteen fruit annually.

Some of us really like to eat vegetables and fruits while some can barely eat a handful in one week. Eating the right things is very important to promote good health. It is good if you understand a little bit about your daily food and thus you will also understand how to eat right and healthy. In this case, mangosteen fruit is one of your wisest choices because it contains essential vitamins and minerals required for your body when it is consumed regularly.

Drinking mangosteen juice regularly

This fruit is a relatively new commodity in the Western world, but currently there are some legitimate studies conducted to investigate the benefits of mangosteen juice. Preliminary results have showed that mangosteen juice truly has some health benefits that you can enjoy.

It is wise to drink mangosteen juice to get its health benefits because your body can absorb mangosteen in a juice form quicker rather than consuming fresh or dried. Mangosteen contains a lot of antioxidants and this is the most important aspect of drinking mangosteen juice for its health benefits. Antioxidants are important because they have an ability to combat and delay aging process as well as give us healthy looking skin.

Mangosteen juice is made by pulping the whole fruit, which strains it and then pasteurizes the juice. It is very important to make the juice from the whole fruit because most of the health benefits are available in its hull or rind.

Benefits of mangosteen juice

Even now, we cannot be 100% certain about benefits of mangosteen juice. Some studies have been conducted, but the results are still preliminary. Therefore, it is difficult to say for certain whether the claims about benefits of mangosteen juice are true or not. What we know for sure about mangosteen juice is that it contains strong antioxidants and antioxidants can help to prevent cell damage from free radicals. Antioxidants are much more effective when we get them naturally, such as from fruits and vegetables, rather than when we take them from a processed supplement.

Based on the statement made by the supporters of mangosteen juice, this product can help to cure various diseases from infections to serious conditions like cancer. In fact, preliminary research has indicated that mangosteen juice can help some ailments, such as fatigue, depression, pain, anxiety, diarrhea, and other problems.

Some even claimed that chronic problems like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s can be healed by the support of consuming mangosteen juice regularly. Unfortunately, it is still unknown whether mangosteen juice can really help this disease or not. Further studies are still required because until now there is no long term studies have been conducted to prove these claims.

The capacity of mangosteen juice to work wonders is still up for debate, but preliminary research showed that drinking mangosteen fruit juice has no negative side effect. Therefore, if you want to give it a try, then it will not be harmful for you. Further studies and time will prove whether mangosteen can stand its claims or not. However, for now, many people who have taken it regularly are happy with the influences that it offers.

As a last reminder, although drinking mangosteen juice for health benefits is good to maintain your health, it should not be taken as a replacement for required medicines. Mangosteen juice only can support our immune system by helping it combat infection and other diseases, but it cannot cure any sickness of its own.



Seth

D Fraser asked:


A wonderful compound found specifically in mangosteen fruit Xanthones (said zan-thones) are polyphenolic compound sets that are wonderful antioxidants. If you’re not familiar with antioxidants then you might want to get a quick over view of exactly what it is they do, for now we’ll go a head break down the benefits of Xanthones in Mangosteen fruit.

Xanthones: A Miracle Antioxidant?

Better then most other known types of antioxidants xanthones in mangosteen are said to help slow the aging process of the bodies cells. Folk/Natural medicine also states that the xanthones in mangosteen are very effective at treating numerous ailments and diseases, along with preventing them from occurring at all. Recently medical studies have also proven that there is definitely benefits to these antioxidants and the effect they have on the human body.

Used for centuries in Southeast Asia the mangosteen fruit cured a variety of diseases and ailments. In the western world mangosteens have already exhibited anti fungal an antibacterial properties, and they appear through Xanthones to help strengthen our immune system. This could be wonderful news for those suffering from immune deficiency problems such as HIV.

Xanthones in mangosteen fruit also aid with blood circulation, and help dilate blood vessels. This allows more blood to flow through them, and an over all increased blood flow. For people with poor circulation such as those with diabetes this is good news to naturally help increase blood flow through the body.

Other positive health benefits that xanothones have been credited with curing are: fatigue, depression, eczema, gum disease, pain, obesity, and vertigo. There have also been claims that mangosteen has help slow the progress of Parkinson’s, glaucoma, and Alzheimer’s.

Some research on the benefits of xanthones in mangosteen fruit appear to be very promising. Just for the simple anti-viral properties it possesses could turn to be very important in treat viruses. Generally there is no treatment for viral infections like colds, they’re just left to run their course.

Will xanthones turn out to bring the mangosteen fruit into the spot light as a healing fruit? Time will tell, providing cancer curing properties isn’t easy, and long term studies must be done before the medical community will recognize it at all. For now it’s yet another dietary natural supplement you can take in juice, or capsule format. Before taking any Mangosteen product it’s a good idea to consult your family doctor of any adverse side effects you might have.



Sidney

Scottsdayle Warrior asked:


Where can I order fresh mangosteen fruit? They recently passed the FDA law to ship it into the states, and I’ve read that you can get it for $45 a pound in some places of New York, but is there somewhere I can order it directly from Thailand, or somewhere else? I live in Kansas, and needless to say, it’s hard to find. Please help. Thanks.

Konrad

Cindy Heller asked:


The mangosteen is considered as one of the most important fruits because it has various beneficial nutrients and antioxidants. This article will explore various parts of the mangosteen to give you some basic understanding on this useful fruits.

Mangosteen plant

The mangosteen plant is part of Guttiferae group, a family of largely tropical trees and shrubs that secrete a kind of acrid yellow resinous juice. It is widely believed that mangosteen plant comes from the Southeast Asia region. Some experts suggested that the mangosteen plant was first domesticated in Thailand or Burma and for many years, the mangosteen fruit is shipped from Singapore to Calcutta, India, and China due to its medicinal benefits.

The mangosteen plant is an erect and very slow-growing tree with a pyramidal crown that can reach twenty to eighty-two feet in height with dark-brown or almost black flaking bark, which contains much yellow, gummy, and bitter latex. The mangosteen plant cannot grow properly on limestone, but it will do best in deep and rich organic soil. In some locations like India, the best place where it can grow is on clay contains much coarse material with a little silt.

Mangosteen seed

Even if it is called the mangosteen seed, it cannot be considered as a seed because they are actually adventitious embryos with no sexual fertilization. When the mangosteen seed starts growing, firstly a shot will emerge from one end of the seed and a root will start from the other end. This root is only short-lived, which will soon be replaced with other roots that develop at the base of the shoot.

The mangosteen seed is different than other seeds as it has a vegetative process of reproduction which makes the resulting trees and fruits have little variation. It is common for the mangosteen to be propagated by its seed, but this mangosteen seed is easily to lose its vitality and need to be planted fresh or stored in moist peat moss, sawdust, or paper to keep its health.

Germination will happen within two or three weeks time and the seedlings grow slowly. They need around fifty to seventy-five percent of shading during the first three or four years, while thereafter they can grow in the full sunlight. Mangosteen seeds are sensitive to the high level of fertilizer so they should be fertilized using a more dilute fertilizer or an organic fertilizer. Mangosteen tree prefers a fertile and well drained soil, which contains an acid pH and high organic matter. During the first three years, the tree should be fertilized every three to four months while thereafter it needs to be fertilized once or twice a year.

Mangosteen fruit

The mangosteen fruit can be divided into two parts, the white center fruit and the purple outer rind or pericarp. The center fruit has some segments and there is one segment for every triangle in the blossom remnant. Mangosteen fruit is prized for its taste and some people consider it as the most delicious fruit in the world.

The mangosteen fruit has a thick and purple outer pericarp. It contains bitter latex and the purple juice acts like a permanent dye. This outer pericarp is rich with healthful xanthones as well and there are actually forty various xanthones in the mangosteen fruit.

Mangosteen pericarp

Mangosteen is beneficial for your health, but most of the nutrients are actually derived from the mangosteen pericarp and not from the fruit. Some studies found that the mangosteen pericarp has a large amount of biologically active substances, such as catechins, polysaccharides, stilbenes, and vitamins.

The taste of the pericarp is bitter, but due to proprietary method, it is possible to combine it with other delicious fruits like pomegranate and use the whole mangosteen fruit while maintaining its unique flavor. Further studies indicated that the human body has no difficulty to absorb the essential nutrients from this mangosteen pericarp.

The mangosteen pericarp is the part of the mangosteen fruit that has a high concentration of xanthones. In addition, it contains a powerful anti-inflammatory material. Xanthones are one type of antioxidants and antioxidants can combat and neutralize free radicals in our body. Free radicals are one of the greatest threats for our health because they can attack individual cell many thousand times a day and thus weakening it so it becomes more susceptible to illness and disease.



Brice

Da Austrian Oak asked:


I’m told that I would probably only find them in Asian stores, but only canned. Also, I read in other answers for other people that the fruit by itself is probably not available in the U.S. by itself. So, does anyone know of a specific canned product, like the name of it? I want to taste the fruit itself even if it’s canned, not just the juice. I can get that at the Vitamin Shoppe and I’ve never even bought it. Way too expensive.

Bowen

Paul asked:


The mangosteen is a fruit from South Asia, not imported as a whole fruit in any other country.

It’s a unique and remarkable fruit with the capability of helping with cancer and other diseases and illnesses. The fruit has 17000 antioxidents. Compared with the next fruit down having only 3000, I think it beats all fruits. There are over 40 Xanthones found in the fruit hence the name XanGo the company that brings it to the USA and the United Kingdom has a health beverage.

Check out the scientific papers on the fruit and the testomonies from the Xango site

http://www.xango.net.

What do you think. Does anyone reckon it does this and maybe the pharmaceuticals have beem slow in catching the ball and running with it?

Perhaps the health industry is not ready to accept a fruit which has this capability. Imagine all the jobs being lost. The countries would go into economical crisis.

Tell us what you think.

Leo

al8mbox asked:


Xango was introduced to me by my friend in the Philippines. He shared with me that this mangosteen juice contains a lot of nutrients more potent than Vitamin E and Vitamin C. So my wife and I tried it. Here are some interesting benefits that we derived from drinking it:

My wife has insomnia, after drinking mangosteen juice (2 ounces twice a day) for 2 days, she’s already asleep by 11:30 pm.I usually have migraine in the afternoon, after drinking mangosteen juice (2 ounces twice a day) for 4 days, I am totally headache free.

I was so amazed with the results so I did some readings and research. Here’s what I found:

Mangosteen has been used by traditional practitioners of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Africa for its varied medicinal applications. These applications include:

antimicrobial agenttreatment for skin diseasesanti-inflammatory agentanalgesic (pain reliever)antidiarrheal treatmentgastrointestinal aid



Dr. J. Frederick Templeman, a primary care physician, board certified in the US & Canada, with over 20 years clinical experience and a medical director of Phytoceutical Research states that the human body is a remarkable creation, capable of caring for and repairing itself – but only if it receives the necessary nutrients (raw materials) to do so. When a state of disequilibrium occurs, we can only assist the body in its efforts to restore optimal health.

There are a variety of measures we can utilize to help our bodies recover from illness. Improved diet, stress relief, and increased physical activity are a few things that can make a tremendous difference in our state of health. Sometimes even these are not enough.

Supplementation also plays a critical role in assisting the body to both prevent and combat disease. Which supplements should we take? Well, each of our bodies is different, so each of our needs is slightly different as well. If you think of your body as own personal laboratory, and you “experiment” with different supplements to achieve better health, you will soon be able to determine which products your body can use most effectively.

Dr. Templeman feels that natural supplements offering the broadest range of phytonutrients to the body are those you should consider first. In this regard, the mangosteen fruit possesses a wide range of phytonutrients, including xanthones. But xanthones are only half the story. The fruit also contains catechins and proanthocyanidins, both classes of polyphenols shown to have great nutritional value for the body. Mangosteen also possesses polysaccharides and sterols, two groups of compounds also thought to possess a variety of potential health benefits.

Dr. Templeman adds: “If you are in poor health, or are simply looking to lower your risk of disease, I encourage you to experiment with the mangosteen fruit in the laboratory of your own body to determine how it will put this amazing fruit to use.”

In addition to what I’ve learned, the bulk of the nutrients comes from the pericarp or rind of the mangosteen fruit.

Here are some interesting research and results of preclinical studies which provide the evidence that these nutrients can be used by the body:

Atherosclerosis. Cathecin research on mangosteen has demonstrated the following in the area of atherosclerosis (the process of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium and fibrin (a clotting material in the blood) building up in the inner lining of an artery. The buildup that results is called plaque.):

Decreased liver production of LDL and VLDL (bad cholesterol)Protection of the LDL molecule from free radical damage (antioxidant effect more potent that Vitamin C)Decreased amount of absorption and digestion of dietary factsNormalization of endothelial cell function in the artery so that adhesion substances are not formedInhibition of the growth factors that cause smooth muscle cells in the walls of arteries to grow abnormally and form plaqueInhibition of bacterial proliferation in the mouth that leads to gum disease and the possible infection of arterial plaqueDampening of the inflammatory response, which leads to plaque rupture and triggers the coagulation cascade that produces the deadly blood clotInhibition of thrombin-induced clot information (the coagulation cascade)Xanthone research has revealed the following properties:

Antioxidant activity (surpassing that of Vitamin E) that protects LDL particles from free radical damage in laboratory studiesAntibacterial action to prevent the infection of plaquesAnti-inflammatory activity capable of dampening the inflammation, which can lead to plaque rupture

Proanthocyanidin research has revealed the following properties:

Antioxidant activity to protect LDL particles from free radical damageAntibacterial effectsNormalization of endothelial vasolidatory function in the arteries through the increased production of Nitric oxideAntithrombotic (anticlotting) effectAnti-inflammatory effect to lessen the probability of plaque ruptureRegulation of adhesion molecule production by endothelial cells

Sterol research has revealed the following properties:

Normalization of lipid production to prevent the excessive formation of LDL

Polysaccharide research has revealed the following properties:

Antibacterial effect

Cancer. Cathecin research in the area of cancer has revealed:

Protection of DNA from damage by free radicals and other mutagensRepair of damaged DNA before cancer beginsInhibition of the inappropriate production of growth factors which promote cancerInhibition of the proteolytic enzymes, which cancerous cells produce to invade normal tissue and to mestatasizeProtection of skin from UV damageInhibition of the production of pro-inflammatory mediators which promote cancer growthChemoprotection (by unelucidated mechanisms) from many different types of cancerAnti-tumor effect by the induction of apoptosis or cell death in cancer cells

Xanthone research in the area of cancer has revealed:

Protection of DNA from damage by free radicalsInduction of apoptosis (cell suicide) in tumor cells of several types of cancerAnti-tumor efficacy (in vitro) of garcinone E (a mangosteen xanthone), surpassing the effect of five commonly utlized chemotherapy agents

Proanthocyanidin research in the area of cancer has shown:

Inhibition of the production of protein-dissolving agents produced by cancer cells to invade normal tissue and to metastasize

Inflammation. The body’s non-specific response to virtually all insults (such as infection, trauma, radiation damage, allergen irritation, etc.) is inflammation. Characterized by swelling, redness, heat and pain, most inflammation is short-lived and an important part of the healing process. However, too often inflammation does not shut off when it should and can continue for weeks, months, or years (chronic inflammation). When this occurs, the inflammation itself (which can be painless and therefore silent) becomes a serious health threat.

Although not a disease per se, chronic inflammation has been implicated in the development of many health problems including cancer, arthritis, diabetes, skin disorders, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases (such as MS, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s), lung disease, inflammotory bowel disease (Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis), ulcers, gastritis, GERD, allergy, kidney failure and even psychiatric disorders like depression, autism and schizophrenia. And this list is not complete because other illnesses have been shown to involve inflammatory states as greater or lesser causatory or exacerbating factors.

Cathecin research in the area of inflammation shows:

Ability to chelate iron and copper, two metals frequently involved in the production of free radicalsExcellent antioxidant activity that even exceeds the antioxidant power of vitamin C

Xanthone research in the area of inflammation shows:

Antioxidant capability which exceeds that of vitamin EAll 43 mangosteen xanthones have antioxidant capabilityThe capability of blocking the most common inflammatory cascade (arachadonic acid to prostaglandin E2) at the genetic level (COX-2 blockade)Antioxidant effect in an animal experiment that equaled the power of the drug dexamethasone and exceeded the effect of the drug Indomethacin

Proanthocyanidin research in the area of inflammation shows:

Effective inhibition of the proinflammatory enzyme COX-2 (again at the level of the COX-2 gene)The ability to inhibit the formation of copper-linked free radicalsChemoprotective effects on cells threatened with inflammatory damage

(Ref. – Mangosteen, the gift your body deserves by J. Frederic Templeman, M.D.)

The above mentioned illnesses are only a few of what mangosteen can do and help our body. You may do your own research by searching mangosteen in the internet or you may visit http://www.mangosteenmd.com.

To sum it up: XanGo (Xangosteen in Singapore) juice is a food supplement that has an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-tumor and cancer prevention properties. It also strengthens the body’s immune system. Backed by research, and experiences/success stories of doctors and ordinary people, http://www.mangosteenexperiences.com.

Should you need more information, visit http://www.mangosteen.sawit.net



Jeremiah