09/01/2023
You won’t find mangosteen growing in the United States. But in Southeast Asia, it’s referred to as “the queen of fruits” and “the fruit of the gods.” That’s because on the islands of Southeast Asia—where it grows on a native evergreen tree it plays a central role in traditional medicine.
The rind of the fruit is rich in substances known as xanthones, which are naturally occurring plant chemicals. Xanthones—named for the Greek word for yellow—are a yellow pigment that can offer some protection against certain types of cancer. One review study on xanthones from mangosteen extracts noted that “Multiple lines of evidence from numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have confirmed that xanthones inhibit proliferation of a wide range of human tumor cell types.”
The problem is that the xanthones are found primarily in the rind, which no one eats, but some of the higher quality mangosteen juices are made from both the fruit and the rind (the pericamp), so theoretically you should get some xanthones in the better juices.
Besides having anticancer effects, xanthones exhibit a wide range of biological activities—they’re both anti- inflammatory and antibacterial.
Aside from the xanthones, mangosteen (the fruit) contains a good amount of B-complex vitamins as well as minerals such as copper, manganese, magnesium and potassium. But the real selling point of the fruit (and specifically, the fruit juices) are the xanthones.
That’s an important point. The mangosteen fruit is still considered exotic in the United States, and they’re not exactly easy to find nor particularly popular. But mangosteen juice products have made a big splash, largely because of aggressive marketing and an almost insatiable need for the next big thing.