Apatot tree - a wonder tree

            Sometimes I wonder if I was blessed with this tree that I do have in our backyard. The plant bears flowers and fruits all year round. The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a overpowering odor when ripening. It can grow as tall as our house. And it is called the “apatot tree”.
I have researched regarding this tree and its medicinal value of the apatot tree. At first the fruit is green, and then turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It has many seeds; also called starvation fruit. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as a famine food, in some Pacific islands, Southeast Asians and Australian Aborigines consume the fruit raw with salt or cook it with curry. The seeds are also edible when roasted.
Commonly known as great morinda, Indian mulberry and Noni, its scientific name of this wonder plant is Morinda citrifolia.
The green fruit, leaves, and roots were traditionally used in Polynesian cultures to treat menstrual cramps, bowel irregularities, diabetes, liver diseases, and urinary tract infections. Its pulp powder or juice is its high vitamin C content; its fruit juice provides only about half the vitamin C of a raw navel orange. The Sodium levels in apatot are high compared to an orange. Although the potassium content appears relatively high for apatot is 3% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance and so would not be considered excessive. Apatot fruit contains a number of phytochemicals, including lignans, oligo- and polysaccharides, flavonoids, iridoids, fatty acids, scopoletin, catechin, beta-sitosterol, damnacanthal, and alkaloids.
Recently, the US National Cancer Institute has undertaken further preliminary studies for potential preventive effects against breast cancer.