What Is Mangosteen Extract Good For?

The mangosteen is a tropical fruit. The fruit, juice, rind, shoots and bark are used in medicine. Mangosteen is used for diarrhoea, urinary tract infections (UTIs), gonorrhoea, thrush, tuberculosis, menstrual disorders, cancer, osteoarthritis and the intestinal infection known as dysentery. It is also used to stimulate the immune system and improve mental health.

Some people use the mangosteen fruit on the skin for eczema and other skin conditions. The mangosteen is often eaten as a dessert fruit or made into jam. History reports that it was Queen Victoria's favourite fruit.

One of the most revered tropical fruits, the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) is widely known as the queen of fruits for its beautiful purple-blue rind and delicious flavour. The edible aril is white, soft and juicy with a pleasantly sweet flavour. The mangosteen is a menopausal fruit that undergoes rapid changes after harvest, resulting in a short shelf life at ambient temperatures. Physiological disorders caused by pre-harvest and post-harvest factors have a major impact on the appearance and eating quality. As well as being eaten fresh, arils are processed into other products. The skins also contain many compounds that may have medicinal value.

 Mangosteen

The mangosteen is a tropical plant grown in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Thailand. It has been consumed as a fruit, and juice and used as traditional medicine. Mangosteen has been used to treat skin infections and diarrhoea. Recent scientific studies have shown that the mangosteen fruit has strong antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-microbial and anti-malarial properties.

The xanthones and vitamins in mangosteen are considered to be the main active ingredients. Xanthones from mangosteen extract and mangosteen have been reported to scavenge 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,20-azido-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and peroxynitrite radicals.

Mangosteen was able to reduce LDL oxidation in vitro. Mangosteen extract protected neuroblastoma cell lines from neurological damage caused by exposure to hydrogen peroxide. In a rat study, alpha-mangostin attenuated lipid peroxidation and damage to the antioxidant defence system during injury-induced myocardial infarction.

 Mangosteen Extract

Chronic inflammation is associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and nephritis. in 2012, these diseases caused over 20 million deaths per year worldwide (WHO 2014).

Chronic inflammation can be triggered by cellular stress and dysfunction, such as oxidative stress, elevated blood glucose levels and excessive calorie consumption. Extracts and isolated compounds of mangosteen have been reported to attenuate pro-inflammatory responses.

Skin ageing is a complex natural process characterised by a gradual weakening of the structural integrity and physiological imbalance of the skin tissue. As oxidative stress is closely linked to the skin ageing process, the use of antioxidants can be a beneficial strategy to slow down the skin ageing process. Mangosteen is an important fruit commodity and its extracts have been extensively studied and revealed a variety of biological activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-ageing activities of mangosteen pericarp extract (MPE) and its phytochemical constituents. The present findings may provide scientific evidence for the possible use of mangosteen extracts and their compounds as antioxidants and anti-ageing agents.

The flavonoid content of MPE was approximately 17.66 μg QE mg-1 extract. The mangosteen pericarp extract showed potent antioxidant, anti-elastase and anti-collagenase activities, while γ-mangostin showed potent anti-hyaluronidase and anti-tyrosinase activities. It is proposed that mangosteen pericarp extract and its compounds can be used as anti-ageing agents.