* * *

WAS stunned that any respectable newspaper would be a party to an infomercial under the guise of an article. The entire article in a respectable medium would have the word 'Advertisement' at the top to save its fine name. I just hope you were paid to run this article as any ad should be paid for."

That's the view of Ian Crown after reading the recent coverage of the soaring popularity of mangosteen-based dietary supplements.

An agriculture graduate, Mr. Crown began cultivating the fragile fruit after buying a plantation in Puerto Rico in the early 1990s.

There were some initial setbacks. More than half of his first batch of seedlings died because of poor irrigation while in 1997 vandals burnt down most of his plantings. The following year a hurricane tore through his plantation "like a weed whacker combined with a vacuum cleaner", forcing Mr. Crown to start the delicate process of planting all over again.

Because the plant takes between six and eight years to deliver its first fruit, it wasn't until 2005 that the farmer had a healthy, albeit small, harvest.

This year has seen his plantation of now "robust and strong" trees produce even more fruit and next year Mr. Crown plans to export the product to his native America for the first time.

And that puts him in a unique position. For years the US has barred the importation of fresh, Asian-grown mangosteens because of the fear of pest infestation.

Although that ban does not apply to fruit cultivated in the Caribbean and South America, few horticulturists have bothered to develop a crop in those regions, making Mr. Crown one of the few mangosteen farmers able to produce and sell the fruit legally to the US on a commercial scale.

As he points out, if anyone has anything to gain from a sudden surge in demand for this "forbidden fruit", it is him.

Nevertheless, Mr. Crown refuses to cash in on the latest health craze by selling to giant corporations which manufacture what he describes as "Processed Whole Mangosteen Products" (PMPs). He has even refused to sell off his own mangosteen information web site address, www.mangosteen.com, to companies willing to shell out huge sums for the highly desirable, instantly memorable marketing aid.

Why? Because he believes health claims made by such manufacturers are as yet unfounded, even though many mangosteen-based dietary supplements are endorsed by medical professionals.

"This is the classic snake oil story until proven otherwise," he told the .

"None of it is documented. All of it is borrowed from various sources who all cite each other to give it the appearance of authenticity. It's baseless, undocumented and untested anecdotes and testimonials, nothing studied by actual doctors and scientists regarding in vivo studies."

Mr. Crown conceded that the rind of the fruit ? a rich source of the antioxidant xanthones ? had probably been used by ancient peoples for centuries to treat dysentery while early tests suggest it also has potential for treating other diseases such as cancer.

But he added that the rind alone is so bitter as to be unpalatable unless diluted to such a degree that any health properties are drastically reduced, while the edible part of the fruit "may contain trace amounts of xanthones at best".

"But little is known about their effect on people," he said.

"Are xanthones the best antioxidants? Totally unknown at this time. What is also not known yet is how much antioxidant is needed. Does the body have limits as to how much can be used at a given time? Can they cause damage by overdoing it or be a waste of money as the excess gets flushed from the system?

"All unknown at this time. Too little or too much of anything is a hazard ? even vitamin C and the others can be consumed in excess with very bad results from toxicity.

"The work done to date shows that some chemicals in the rind of the mangosteen show some benefits against breast cancer, leukaemia, pathogenic bacteria, colon cancer and so on in test tube maintained cancer cell lines and in rats ? not in living people.

"There are very promising hints of possible benefits down the road. We are not down that road yet."

And he also condemned anecdotal evidence as requiring a blind leap of faith if it is to be believed.

"The 'my friend' or 'I know a guy' kind of 'science' is a page from any sales manual ? there are no facts, no documentation, no board-certified doctors putting their names in print to substantiate even a whisper of the commerce-based claims of efficacy," he said.

"And what on earth is a polynutrient? Marketing mumbo-jumbo. Broccoli is a polynutrient, if you must. Xanthones are a class of complex organic molecules numbering in the dozens that have to date never been proven to do anything in vivo in humans except deplete their cash levels while enriching the accounts of those selling it. There is nothing in the xanthone group that could be described as a nutrient ? no food value, no essential amino acids, no micronutrients.

"If you want to use a fictitious word, try 'panacillin'. This is my made-up word for anything presented as a pharmaceutical-quality substance with medically significant benefits which in fact is not a medicine with a shred of documented data to back any associated claims. In other words, a panacea with implied benefits on a par with a real pharmaceutical like penicillin.

"I am not saying all supplements lack efficacy. Far from it. And not all pharmaceuticals are all that great either. I am just saying that if I am going to put anything in my system, I want it to have been tested in a lab and a human and not just in a boardroom.

"Doesn't it strike anyone as a bit odd that every person involved in your articles has a financial involvement in promoting an expansion in sales while simultaneously touting its magic bullet qualities?"

And what of the legend that the mangosteen became known as the "queen of fruits" after being endorsed by Queen Victoria?

"Apocryphal bunk," was Mr. Crown's conclusion after extensively researching the subject. He has offered a reward to anyone who can provide proof that Her Majesty sampled the fruit, and so far has had no takers.

Perhaps not surprisingly Mr. Crown is not waging a one-man war against some mangosteen promoters who flog their product on the back of spurious health benefits. He's getting plenty of support from the medical profession.

Dr. Ralph Moss is an acknowledged expert in alternative cancer treatments. His analysis of PMPs? "It is high time for a reality check," he is quoted as saying on one web site.

"Has mangosteen really been thoroughly studied in terms of its effect on cancer and a host of other diseases or is this simply a wild extrapolation driven by strong commercial motives?

"In my opinion, what we have here is simply an overpriced fruit drink. Fruit drinks are often healthful beverages. But the only reason I can see that the promoters of mangosteen can get away with charging $37 for this product is that they are playing on patients' hopes and fears in a cynical way. Without the health claims, open or implied, the product could only be sold for at most $5 or $6 which, for example, is the cost of antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice.

"The mangosteen phenomenon is a reprise of the aloe vera, gingko biloba, and especially the noni juice story, complete with exaggerated claims for the health benefits of an exotic fruit."

Perhaps the most significant analysis comes from Dr. Ray Sahelian, a physician and author who specialises in the evaluation of dietary supplements.

Like Mr. Crown, Dr. Sahelian has a vested interest in pushing any benefits that the fruit might contain ? he has developed and sells a pill made from the mangosteen rind. But the promotional blurb accompanying his product appears to be nothing more than one long disclaimer.

"At this point almost all studies with mangosteen have been done in a laboratory and there is little human research to indicate how mangosteen supplements or mangosteen juice would influence the prevention or therapy of various cancers, including breast, lung, and liver, or what other benefit the compounds in mangosteen, such as xanthones, would have when ingested as a supplement," Dr. Sahelian warns on his web site.

"If you come across claims that mangosteen has been proven to have health benefit in humans, be sceptical. It may be true, but until actual long term human trials are done, we cannot be certain about mangosteen benefits or side effects.

"Until human trials are done, it is difficult to make any recommendations regarding the benefit of mangosteen. Does mangosteen work well when taken as a supplement? What is the ideal mangosteen dosage? How often should mangosteen be taken and for how long? Does mangosteen have side-effects when taken for prolonged periods of time?

"These are questions that still need to be answered through rigorous mangosteen research. However, some of the in vitro studies regarding mangosteen's anti-cancer potential are intriguing and certainly worthwhile to further explore. Several compounds found in mangosteen may have potential health benefits.

"However, until actual research human studies are done, it is difficult to know for certain what role mangosteen juice or mangosteen supplement extracts play in health and disease."

That's a message that Mr. Crown hopes people ? some of whom might be desperately ill and desperately seeking a cure ? will bear in mind when looking for a lifeline.

He concluded: "I ask you, what does the rind of a mangosteen have in it that you think you need? It may provide untold numbers of benefits. It may provide none. Go forward with your eyes open. The best way for a buyer to be aware is for the buyer to be informed."