Plant Story

Graviola (Annona muricata) is an evergreen tree with large, glossy, dark green leaves native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean. The tree produces heart-shaped dark green and prickly fruits. It is also commonly called soursop due to its slightly acidic taste when ripe. Graviola trees are now cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions in the world, where its fruits are used to make juice, ice cream, syrups, jams, and jellies due to their high content of sugar. Traditionally, graviola fruit has been used as a natural medicine for arthritic pain, arthritis, diarrhea, fever, rheumatism, and skin rashes.

Various phytochemicals were found from graviola fruits, which include alkaloids (annonaine, nornuciferine, and asimilobine), phenolics (p-coumaric acid, cinnamic acid derivatives, caffeic acid derivative, feruloylglycoside, and 5-caffeoylquinic acid), and annonaceous acetogenin compounds (epomusenin-A, epomusenin-B, epomurinin-A, epomurinin-B, muricin J, muricin K, and muricin L). A study demonstrated anti-oxidant properties of various parts of graviola and the fruit fractions showed better DPPH radical scavenging activities compared to other parts of the plant. Graviola fruit extract also showed anti-inflammatory activities with dose-dependent inhibition of COX-1 and COX-2 activities.