The Guanábana (Annona muricata; also called Graviola, Soursop, or Guyabano) is one of the custard or cream apples of the world. Although widely enjoyed for its fruit, there is a race on among researchers to develop anticancer agents modeled after a group of its phytochemical constituents, along with toxicity concerns.
The Guanábana is native to the Caribbean and Central America, but is now widely cultivated due to the popularity of its fruit. As it is closely related, the Guanábana has a similar but pricklier appearance to the Cherimoya. In comparison with the Cherimoya for its texture and flavor, it is very similar but has much more of a backend tanginess.
The Guanábana is higher in Vitamin C than Cherimoya, which makes sense given its tangier flavor, and also is a good source of Vitamin A and dietary fiber. The unripe fruits can also be eaten, and are sometimes used as a cooked vegetable or meat substitute. The young shoots are also cooked and eaten as a vegetable and the leaves used for making a tea called corossol.
Investigation into its chemical constituents have found interesting alkaloids, phenols, and especially the acetogenins. The acetogenins are a group of polyketides which have a fatty acid derived structure that allows them to be very lipophilic and freely cross biological membranes. This is where the concerns for toxicity come in, as there are concerns for consumption of high amounts correlated with an atypical form of Parkinson’s disease.
Unfortunately, due to the traditional use and excitement of some of the scientific investigations which have found it to be able to destroy certain cancer cells, the Guanábana has fallen prey to people trying to profit by selling Guanábana products with unsubstatiated claims. Though there have been some interesting scientific advances, we are a long way from knowing, through scientific investigation, how Guanábana extracts or synthetic products could be developed for market for this purpose.
The Guanábana is used widely through Latin America and also Asia, and it is popular for making juices, smoothies, ice creams and other sweet dishes. The toxicity concerns are mainly for the leaves and seeds or extracts but not the fruit pulp.
The Guanábana (various plant parts) is used extensively in the traditional medicines of people of South America and Africa for the treatment of a wide range of conditions, including diabetes.
Guanábana preparations are traditionally known for their sedative, antiinflammatory and antispasmodic properties, and are taken internally as a tea, applied topically or sometimes just placed under the pillow for their sedating strong scent. The flowers are used for colds and nerve pain.
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Photo by Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil