Best way to drink mangosteen juice?
The answer is tricky and I will try to make it simple and easy to digest. 🙂 Pun intended.
From everything I have read since I started drinking the juice in 2007 there are 5 factors determining a correct answer.
Post updated August 29, 2021. Another point added making it 6 factors.
5 Factors Effecting Mangosteen Consumption
1. Mangosteen juice when should you drink it?
2. Natural variation between people and a person’s sensitivity or resistance to the components in mangosteen juice that are good for you.
3. Quantity of mangosteen juice that is consumed.
4. Time between consuming each serving of your “Jungle Juice” aka XanGo’s mangosteen juice.
5. Bioavailability of mangosteen nutrients within the body.
6. How long do you take mangosteen juice for?
Lets take these factors one at a time.
Mangosteen juice when should you drink it?
1. Nutrients in any food are either water soluble or fat soluble. Xanthones are fat soluble so, if have you mangosteen juice hours after a meal and there are no fats in your digestive system you will miss out on components of mangosteen that are fat soluble. My suggestion is to eat a few almonds before drinking juice. In Australia I would recommend people raw almonds. However, in the US, I believe that only roasted are allowed for human consumption.
Natural Variation Between People
2.Natural variation between people. Do you remember high school mathematics and probability normal distribution curve stuff? Basically it comes down to common sense and the things we know about each other. We are all different. Each individual within a population will need a different amount of mangosteen and xanthones to achieve a similar goal or outcome. XanGo juice and the beneficial goodness, we each get out of it as a food source will vary but for each of us mangosteen is still supplying us with nutrition we wouldn’t otherwise receive.
Quantity of mangosteen juice
3. Quantity of mangosteen juice. On this point “Are you taking enough for yourself as an individual?”. For example are you a person who is slightly insensitive to the nutrients in mangosteen? Then if you are only taking a small amount and don’t feel any different, that makes sense. Someone who is insensitive would need to take more juice. Just like someone who is sensitive would be able to feel the benefits with less juice. The issue here is also: “Is there a point at which you can take too much juice?”. Does your body stop absorbing the nutrients from mangosteen at a certain point? More on this later in the post.
Time between mangosteen servings
4. When is the best time to have another shot of juice. Studies from various sources have shown that xanthones from mangosteen pericarp (skin) have a half life of 3.5 to 4 hours. After your initial shot of juice in approximately 4 hours you only have 50% of the original quantity in your body and at 8 hours, only 25% of xanthones. So if you decide to try 120 mLs total, take 3 x 40 mLs or 4 x 30 mLs throughout the day.
Bioavailability of mangosteen
5. Bioavailability of mangosteen after ingestion or just how much nutrients from the juice can your body absorb? Xanthones, the unique antioxidants discovered inside the mangosteen pericarp (skin or peel), have been found to decrease as the amount of xanthones in the blood increases. The study involved drinking 2 x 90 mLs daily or 2 x 180 mLs daily and 2 x 270 mLs daily. The people in the 90 mLs group and the 180 mLs group had higher blood levels of xanthones than the 270 mLs group. I wonder what the result would be if the study was repeated again with 4 servings in the higher group, that is taking 4 x 135 mLs. Nothing is ever simple when a trial is set up often there are more questions to answer.
How long do you take mangosteen juice for?
6. Length of time taking mangosteen juice? Most natural therapists will instruct you to stay on something for 3 months to experience any difference. Even medical professional recommend new therapies for 3 months, depending on the type of condition that advice is given to treat.
The turnover of particular components in the body takes 3 months to complete. The opinion is that it has taken some time to get where you are and you won’t get the possible full effects for at least 3 months.
~ Persoanl note: “I wanted to stop taking mangosteen juice after 6 weeks as it had no effect and it was, I considered,expensive. The person who recommended I get mangosteen nutrition into my body made me see the reason of 3 months and I continued. Sometime around 7 weeks the beneficial effects kicked in and I began to feel like a new person. Was it a change in my mindset, the placebo effect or the fact that mangosteen works?”
I firmly believe that just like fruit and vitamin C you should continue taking mangosteen juice for the benefits of a nutrient with we don’t otherwide have in our diet … xanthones.
Follow this link for answers to 19 frequently asked questions about Xango juice.
Instructions for XanGo® Juice and how much to drink. On the label it is printed to drink 30 mLs to 90 mLs per day. I don’t know of any studies for this but if you do please send me a comment and the reference and I’ll publish it on this blog post. From what we have discussed who knows if 30 mLs, 60 mLs or 90 mLs is enough for you to take. You may need to load yourself up and then later cut back on the amount of juice you take. My best advice that I always say and what I did is “Give it a try”. Take less and take more see what suits you. We all know when we have eaten too many prunes or you probably know when to stop drinking coffee, so you get a good nights sleep.
The next issue I’d like to bring up when people ask “How much mangosteen juice do I need to drink?” is as far as I have read most of the studies concern the absorption of xanthones into the body. Perhaps any benefits from mangosteen you are feeling is not only from xanthones, unique to mangosteen but from the other nutrients in mangosteen: catechins, polysaccharides, proanthocyanidins and even tanins. Yes, by all means take notice of what is pertinent for the xanthones in mangosteen but listen to your own body perhaps and what suits you.
A reference on bioavailability can be found at J Agric Food Chem. 2009 Oct 14;57(19):8788-92 . This study suggests maximum antioxidant activity is achieved in the body at 4 hours. However this study is not on pure mangosteen juice or XanGo juice for that matter. So there are still more variables to consider when answering the question: “How much mangosteen juice should I drink?”
Best answer is to consider the 5 variables above and trust your body to tell you.