Miracle fruit
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| Miracle fruit | ||||||||||||||||
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| Synsepalum dulcificum (Schumach. & Thonn.) Daniell |
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Bakeriella dulcifica (Schumach. & Thonn.) Dubard |
The miracle fruit plant (Synsepalum dulcificum) produces berries that, when eaten, cause sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. The berry, also known as miracle, magic, miraculous or flavor berry,[2][3] was first documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais[4] who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa. Marchais noticed that local tribes picked the berry from shrubs and chewed it before meals. The plant grows in bushes up to 20 feet (6.1 m) high in its native habitat, but does not usually grow higher than ten feet in cultivation, and it produces two crops per year, after the end of the rainy season. It is an evergreen plant that produces small red berries, with flowers that are white and which are produced for many months of the year. The seeds are about the size of coffee beans.
The berry contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin.[5][6] When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue's taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. While the exact cause for this change is unknown, one hypothesis is that the effect may be caused if miraculin works by distorting the shape of sweetness receptors "so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things".[3] This effect lasts 15-30 minutes.[7]
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[edit] History
An attempt was made in the 1970s to commercialize the ability of the fruit to turn non-sweet foods into sweet foods without a caloric penalty, but ended in failure in controversial circumstances with accusations that the project was sabotaged and the research burgled by the sugar industry to prevent loss of business caused by a drop in the need for sugar.[8] The FDA has always denied that pressure was put on it by the sugar industry, but refused to release any files on the subject.[9] Similar arguments are noted for FDA's regulation on stevia now labeled as a "dietary supplement" instead of a "sweetener".
For a time in the 1970s, US dieters could purchase a pill form of miraculin.[3] It was at this time that the idea of the "miraculin party"[3] was conceived. Recently, this phenomenon has enjoyed some revival in food tasting events, referred to as "flavor tripping parties" by some.[2] The tasters consume sour and bitter foods, such as lemons, radishes, pickles, hot sauce, and beer, to experience the taste changes that occur.
[edit] General information and cultivation
The plant grows best at a pH as low as 4.5 to 5.8, in an environment free from frost and in partial shade with high humidity. Without the use of plant hormones the seeds have a 24% sprouting success rate.[10] The plants first bear fruit after growing for approximately 2–3 years. [11]
Attempts have been made to create an artificial sweetener from the fruit, with an idea of developing this for diabetics.[4] Fruit cultivators also report a small demand from cancer patients since the fruit allegedly counteracts a metallic taste in the mouth that may be one of the many side effects of chemotherapy.[4] There has been no scientific research conducted to support this claim[4], though in late 2008, an oncologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida began a study and by March 2009 had filed an investigational new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[7]
In 2006, researchers at the University of Tsukuba genetically engineered lettuce to produce large amounts of miraculin.[3][4] The scientists' crops resulted in 40 micrograms of miraculin per gram of lettuce leaves, which was considered a large amount.[3] Two grams of lettuce leaves produced roughly the same amount of miraculin as in one miracle fruit berry.[4] The researchers said others had unsuccessfully utilized bacteria, yeast and tobacco plants.
[edit] Freeze-dried form
Miracle fruit is available as freeze dried granules or in tablets - this form has a longer shelf life than fresh fruit. Tablets are made from compressed freeze dried fruit which causes the texture to be clearly visible even in tablet form.
The effect of Miracle fruit is made possible by contact with the tongue, not through digestion. For this reason, tablets must be allowed to dissolve in the mouth. The most pronounced effect can be achieved by coating the entire tongue in a paste of Miracle fruit for up to 30 seconds.[citation needed]
The tablet is used by patients who are undergoing chemotherapy to help them alleviate the metallic taste from chemotherapy treatment. The tablets are also useful for diabetics and those who are trying to lose weight.[12]
The tablets were popularized in Asia, where they are widely used among diabetics and dieters.[5][6] They are now widely available on the Internet.
[edit] Limitations
Miraculin is a protein and cooking it would destroy it because, when heated, proteins denature and lose their activity.[3]
While Miraculin changes the perception of taste, it does not change the food's chemistry, leaving the mouth and stomach vulnerable to the high acidity of some foods, such as lemon juice, which may result in oral ulcers if eaten in large quantities.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "Synsepalum dulcificum (Schumach. & Thonn.) Daniell". African Flowering Plants Database. Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville Genève - South African Biodiversity Institute. http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=91441. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.
- ^ a b Farrell, Patrick; Kassie Bracken (2008-05-28). "A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-28.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rowe, Aaron (2006-12-07). "Super Lettuce Turns Sour Sweet". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/12/72251. Retrieved on 2008-07-22. ""Sweet receptors sit on taste buds and wait for sweet molecules to come along and set them off," explained Göran Hellekant, a miraculin researcher and professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Minnesota. "Normally, they can only be set off by chemicals that are legitimately sweet, but miraculin may distort their shape a bit so that they become responsive to acids, instead of sugar and other sweet things." ... "We used the miraculin tablets, then started trying every sour thing we could find. I remember straight lemon juice as being pretty good. I also tried vinegar and sauerkraut juice. [...] The next morning we awakened with ulcers in our mouths, barely able to talk. Sure, these things tasted sweet, but they were still highly acidic.""
- ^ a b c d e f "To Make Lemons Into Lemonade, Try 'Miracle Fruit'". Wall Street Journal. 2007-03-30. http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117522147769754148-lMyQjAxMDE3NzM1MDIzMjAxWj.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-28. "Two American entrepreneurs, Robert Harvey and Don Emery, tried this route back in the 1970s but the venture ended in heartbreak.[specify] Their initial focus was on products for diabetics, but some of their financial backers, which included Reynolds Metals Co. and Barclays Bank PLC, had a loftier goal."
- ^ a b "Miracle berry lets Japanese dieters get sweet from sour". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/25/japan.foodanddrink. Retrieved on 2008-05-28. "The berries contain miraculin, a rogue glycoprotein that tricks the tongue's taste-bud receptors into believing a sour food is actually sweet. People in parts of west Africa have been using the berries to sweeten sour food and drink for centuries, but it is only recently that the global food industry has cottoned on."
- ^ a b Balko, Radley (2007-02-08). "Free the Miracle Fruit!". Reason Magazine. http://www.reason.com/blog/show/118589.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-22.
- ^ a b Park, Madison (March 25, 2009). "'Miracle fruit' turns sour things sweet". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/25/miracle.berries.weightloss/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-25.
- ^ "Sweet and sour tale of the miracle berry". The First Post. 2008-04-28. http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/31585,features,sweet-and-sour-tale-of-the-miracle-berry. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- ^ "The miracle berry". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7367548.stm. Retrieved on 2008-05-28. ""I honestly believe that we were done in by some industrial interest that did not want to see us survive because we were a threat. Somebody influenced somebody in the FDA to cause the regulatory action that was taken against us.""
- ^ Annual Report 2002, p. 10[dead link] from the website of ASNAPP (Agribusiness in Sustainable Natural African Plant Products)
- ^ Synsepalum dulcificum: Everyday Miracle - Grow the Dream! from toptropicals.com (Punta Gorda, Florida)
- ^ CNN report on Frooties tables being used to help with weight loss.
[edit] See also
- Thaumatococcus daniellii, a tropical plant with similar properties
