“Miracle Fruit” Restores Appetite In Some Cancer Patients Suffering From Loss of Taste

It bears a hard-to-pronounce name, Synsepalum dulcificum, is native to West Africa, and is flavorless – yet, this small, cranberry-colored fruit is potent enough to make sour foods taste sweet. For instance, chew this fruit while running your tongue against the pulp and you’ll make even lemons taste like candy.

It’s being called a "miracle fruit" because most cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy who have tried eating the berry find that it helps them overcome their dulled taste buds. This enables them to eat better and consequently maintain or improve their overall health.

It’s common among patients taking chemotherapy to lose weight, mainly because the chemo makes food taste metallic and bland. This can lead to other problems, including malnutrition, electrolyte imbalance, immune deficiency, and impaired function of organs.

The inspiration for giving cancer patients this miracle fruit came from a cancer patient living in Miami. The patient was touring a Botanic Garden when the curator told him about how eating the fruit could make even a lemon taste sweet.

Impressed with the fruit’s sweetening ability, the patient demonstrated to his oncologist, Dr. Mike Cusnir, how the fruit stimulates the sweet taste receptor in one’s mouth whenever one eats something acidic.

Encouraged by what he experienced, Dr. Cusnir, who works at Mount Sinai’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, is planning the first clinical study of the miracle fruit involving 40 cancer patients . He wants to determine how effective the fruit is in helping cancer patients who have dulled taste buds or an unpleasant metallic taste in their mouths because of the chemotherapy.

If the study results show potential in helping cancer patients overcome their weight and appetite problems, Cusnir expects bigger studies to follow.

While the miracle fruit holds promise for many cancer patients on chemo whose taste buds have been altered leading weight loss and poor health, the fruit reportedly doesn’t work for everyone. Preliminary findings, however, indicate that the majority of patients who have tried the fruit have enjoyed “sweet” success.