Garcinia mangostana fruit, health benefit, does it help with cancer treatment of prevention? What is the right dosage, any safety issues, side effects or risks, danger?

Garcinia mangostana is a fruit that grows in Southeast Asia. Many health benefits are ascribed to this fruit and its extracts.

Substances in Garcinia mangostana fruit and rind
Several compounds in Garcinia mangostana appear to be active, particularly xanthones. Xanthones are unique chemical compounds found in nature, composed of a tricyclic aromatic system with a variety of phenolic, methoxy, and isoprene substituents. Some of the xanthones in mangosteen include mangostin, mangostenol, mangostenone A, mangostenone B, trapezifolixanthone, tovophyllin B, alpha- and beta-mangostins, garcinone B, mangostinone, and mangostanol.
   Garcinia mangostana pericarp also has oligomeric proanthocyanidins, procyanidins, together with a few prodelphinidin units along with small amounts of stereoisomers of afzelechin, epiafzelechin, catechin, epicatechin, and gallocatechin, epigallocatechin.

You can purchase a garcinia manostana supplement by clicking Mangosteen.

Garcinia mangostana and cancer
Garcinia mangostana: a source of potential anti-cancer lead compounds against CEM-SS cell line.
J Asian Nat Prod Res. 2008 May;10(5):481-5. Ee GC, Daud S, Izzaddin SA, Rahmani M. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Our current interest in searching for natural anti-cancer lead compounds from plants has led us to the discovery that the stem and roots of Garcinia mangostana can be a source of such compounds. The stem furnished 2,8-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-5-(3-methylbut-2-enyl)-xanthone (1), which is a new xanthone. Meanwhile, the root bark of the plant furnished six xanthones, namely alpha-mangostin (2), beta-mangostin (3), gamma-mangostin (4), garcinone D (5), mangostanol (6), and gartanin (7). The hexane and chloroform extracts of the root bark of G. mangostana as well as the hexane extract of the stem bark were found to be active against the CEM-SS cell line. gamma-Mangostin (4) showed good activity with a very low IC(50) value of 4.7 mug/ml, while alpha-mangostin (2), mangostanol (6), and garcinone D (5) showed significant activities. This is the first report on the cytotoxicity of the extracts of the stem and root bark of Garcinia mangostana and of alpha-mangostin, mangostanol, and garcinone D against the CEM-SS cell line.

Garcinia mangostana and leukemia
Inhibitory effect of xanthones isolated from the pericarp of Garcinia mangostana L. on rat basophilic leukemia RBL-2H3 cell degranulation.
Bioorg Med Chem. 2008 February. Gifu International Institute of Biotechnology, Bio-active Substances Research, 1-1 Naka-Fudogaoka, Kakamigahara, Gifu 504-0838, Japan.
Mangostin, Garcinia mangostana L. is used as a traditional medicine in southeast Asia for inflammatory and septic ailments. Hitherto we indicated the anticancer activity induced by xanthones such as alpha-, beta-, and gamma-mangostin which were major constituents of the pericarp of Garcinia mangostana fruits. In this study, we examined the effect of Garcinia mangostana xanthones on cell degranulation in rat basophilic leukemia RBL-2H3 cells. Antigen (Ag)-mediated stimulation of high affinity IgE receptor (FcepsilonRI) activates intracellular signal transductions resulting in the release of biologically active mediators such as histamine. The release of histamine and other inflammatory mediators from mast cell or basophils is the primary event in several allergic responses. These xanthones suppressed the release of histamine from IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. In order to reveal the inhibitory mechanism of degranulation by xanthones, we examined the activation of intracellular signaling molecules such as Lyn, Syk, and PLCgammas. All the xanthones tested significantly suppressed the signaling involving Syk and PLCgammas.

Garcinia mangostana anti inflammatory activity
Anti-inflammatory activity of mangostins from Garcinia mangostana.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2008 Feb. Graduate Institute of Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, National Chiayi University, 300 University Road, Chiayi 600, Taiwan, ROC.
The fruit hull of Garcinia mangostana Linn (Guttiferae) is used as an anti-inflammatory drug in Southeast Asia. Two xanthones, alpha- and gamma-mangostins, were isolated from the fruit hull of Garcinia mangostana, and both significantly inhibited nitric oxide (NO) and PGE(2) production from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. In an in vivo study, alpha-mangostin significantly inhibited mice carrageenan-induced paw edema. In conclusion, alpha- and gamma-mangostins from G. mangostana are bioactive substances with anti-inflammatory effects.

Questions
Which is more effective as cancer therapy, garcinia mangostana or graviola herb?
    Since human studies are not available as a comparison, we can't say.