Just this week the UK's food authority said it had received another application for marketing approval in the EU from Hawaiian Noni.

But the French authorities, known to take a highly cautious approach to new food products, said it had very limited data on the tropical fruit's consumption.

It noted further that two recent publications had reported severe liver problems in three people after consumption of the juice. These appeared in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2005;17:445-7) and the World Journal of Gastroenterology (2005;11:4758-60).

Investigations into the cause of the problems is ongoing, it said, but drew attention to recommendations on the product's label for consumption to remain lower than 30ml per day.

It also repeated the advice from novel foods regulators that no health claim had been approved on this product and any misleading claims being made on the Internet should not be heeded by consumers.