Soursop Benefits: What the Evidence Actually Shows

As a fruit, soursop supplies fibre, vitamin C and potassium like many tropical fruits, and that is the only benefit that needs no further evidence. Of the health benefits claimed online, one has been tested in a randomised trial: in 143 Indonesian adults with high-normal blood pressure, two 100 g servings of soursop fruit juice a day for three months went with a lower systolic blood pressure than in an untreated group, with no placebo and no blinding, funded by a university study group. Everything else, from blood sugar to immunity, parasites, sleep and weight, rests on laboratory and animal studies or on surveys of traditional use.^{1, 4, 5, 9} Soursop has no authorised nutrition or health claim in Great Britain.¹⁰ This page is one spoke of the Wellgard soursop guide.

Evidence at a glance

• Trials with a health outcome: one, randomised, 143 adults, fruit juice, blood pressure, no placebo or blinding.¹
• Blood sugar: a 2022 systematic review found cell, animal and computer studies and no human trial.⁴
• Not tested in people: immunity, infections, parasites, sleep, anxiety, weight, "detox", liver or kidney benefit.^{5, 6}

Sources checked on 17 October 2026.

What is in soursop fruit?

Per 100 g of raw pulp: 66 kcal, 16.8 g of carbohydrate, 3.3 g of fibre, 1 g of protein, 20.6 mg of vitamin C (about a quarter of the 80 mg reference intake), 278 mg of potassium and 21 mg of magnesium.⁹ That is a fruit profile; the acetogenins and alkaloids behind both the health claims and the safety questions are in the pulp as well as the leaves.^{5, 8}

Which soursop benefits have been tested in people?

Almost none. The table runs each claim up the evidence ladder: cells in a dish, animals, people.

Blood pressure: the one randomised trial

In 143 Indonesian adults with high-normal blood pressure, two 100 g servings of soursop fruit juice a day for three months went with a lower mean systolic blood pressure across three visits than in a control group that received nothing; there was no placebo and no blinding, and the trial was funded by a university study group.¹ Its companion paper found no between-group difference in cholesterol, triglycerides or blood potassium at 13 weeks and reported no adverse events.⁷ One unblinded trial does not make "lowers blood pressure" a property of the fruit; it makes it a finding worth a proper trial. And a fall in pressure adds to the effect of blood pressure medicines, so anyone on amlodipine, ramipril, losartan or similar should speak to a pharmacist before taking any soursop leaf product.²

Blood sugar: no controlled human trial

A 2022 systematic review searched PubMed for soursop and blood sugar and found cell, animal and computer-modelling studies, too varied to pool, and no human trial.⁴ A 2023 review reached the same place, describing mechanisms in animals and cells and "a significant research gap".⁵ For anyone on metformin, gliclazide or insulin, the animal findings are a caution, not a promise: an untested additive effect on blood sugar is a reason to speak to a pharmacist first.⁴ The medicine-by-medicine detail is on soursop side effects and who should avoid it.

Antioxidant, immune, antimicrobial and sleep claims: what a laboratory result tells you

That a compound does something to cells in a dish, or to a rat. Reviews list antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, insecticidal and larvicidal activity in cell studies, and anxiety-reducing, anti-stress and liver-protective activity in rodents; one review found about 60% of the research in cells, 36% in rodents and 2% in people.^{5, 6} None of it has reached a human trial with a measured outcome, and the main active compounds are the same ones that block mitochondrial complex I and kill dopamine neurons in culture.⁵ A laboratory result is a reason to study a plant. It is not a reason to take it.

Is traditional use evidence?

It is a reason to look. Soursop has a long record of traditional use across the Caribbean, West Africa and South East Asia.⁵ Use is not effect. In a 2016 survey of 150 cancer patients at two Trinidad oncology clinics who used herbal remedies, soursop was the most popular, used regularly by 80.7%, and patients rated it equally (32%) or more (14.7%) effective than their conventional treatment; the authors' conclusion was a warning about herb-drug interactions.¹¹

The safety signal in two sentences

In Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, people with an unusual, levodopa-resistant form of parkinsonism had eaten more soursop fruit and drunk more soursop leaf tea than people with Parkinson's disease or no neurological illness, in observational studies of 87, 160 and 180 patients between 1999 and 2022; annonacin, the plant's main acetogenin, damaged rat and mouse brains when given for a month intravenously or for a year in commercial soursop juice.^{12, 13, 14} That is an association with a plausible mechanism, not proof of cause, and no agency has set a safe intake; the full account is on annonacin, soursop and parkinsonism.

Who should be careful with soursop?

Anyone with Parkinson's disease or another neurological condition, anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone taking medicines for blood pressure or diabetes, and anyone having cancer treatment should talk to their GP, pharmacist or specialist team before taking soursop leaf, tea, capsules, extracts or bitters.^{2, 4, 12} The cancer question, with the human studies one by one and why no UK seller may advertise soursop for cancer, is on soursop and cancer: what the human research shows.

What we don't know

• Whether soursop fruit juice lowers blood pressure under blinded, placebo-controlled conditions; the one trial had neither.¹
• Whether any leaf preparation affects blood sugar in people; no controlled trial exists.⁴

Frequently asked questions

What are the main benefits of soursop?

As a fruit: fibre, vitamin C and potassium in the amounts fruit provides.⁹ As a health intervention: one unblinded randomised trial of fruit juice found lower systolic blood pressure than no treatment in 143 adults over 12 weeks, and nothing else has been shown in people.¹

Does soursop detox your body?

No study has tested it, and "detox" is not an outcome anyone can measure. The liver and kidneys clear what the body does not need; no soursop study has measured them doing it faster.⁶

Is soursop good for arthritis or anxiety?

Not on human evidence. Reviews record anti-inflammatory and "anti-arthritic" activity in animals and cells, and anxiety-reducing effects in rodent tests, with no human trial of either.^{5, 6}

Is soursop good for kidneys?

Nothing shows a benefit. The 143-adult juice trial measured kidney function over three months and reported no harm; no human study has run for longer.¹

Sources

1. Alatas H, et al. The effects of soursop supplementation on blood pressure, serum uric acid, and kidney function in a prehypertensive population. Randomised trial, 143 adults, untreated control, no placebo or blinding, 3 months, university funding, 2020. PubMed 31462727.
2. Nwokocha CR, et al. Possible mechanisms of action of the hypotensive effect of Annona muricata (soursop) in normotensive Sprague-Dawley rats. Animal study, anaesthetised rats, intravenous leaf extract, 2012. PubMed 22950673.
3. Indrawati L, et al. The effect of an Annona muricata leaf extract on nutritional status and cytotoxicity in colorectal cancer: a randomized controlled trial. Randomised placebo-controlled trial, 30 randomised, 28 completed, 8 weeks, funding not stated, 2017. PubMed 28582808.
4. Martín Del Campo-Rayas P, et al. Annona muricata as possible alternative in the treatment of hyperglycemia: a systematic review. Systematic review, no human trial identified, 2022. PubMed 35076315.
5. Moghadamtousi SZ, et al. Annona muricata (Annonaceae): a review of its traditional uses, isolated acetogenins and biological activities. Narrative review, university funding, 2015. PubMed 26184167; and Zubaidi SN, et al. Annona muricata: comprehensive review on the ethnomedicinal, phytochemistry, and pharmacological aspects focusing on antidiabetic properties. Narrative review, 2023. PubMed 36836708.
6. Gavamukulya Y, et al. Annona muricata: is the natural therapy to most disease conditions including cancer growing in our backyard? A systematic review of its research history and future prospects. Review of 101 papers, doctoral scholarship funding, 2017. PubMed 29080611.
7. Alatas H, et al. Soursop fruit (Annona muricata Linn.) consumption does not increase serum potassium levels and not significant in cardiovascular risk improvements of prehypertension subjects. Companion randomised trial, 143 randomised, Journal of the Medical Sciences 50(4), 2018. doi:10.19106/JMedScie/005004201804.
8. Champy P, et al. Quantification of acetogenins in Annona muricata linked to atypical parkinsonism in Guadeloupe. Chemical analysis of fruit, nectar and leaf infusions, 2005. PubMed 16078200.
9. USDA FoodData Central. Soursop, raw (SR Legacy 167761), per 100 g, read 17 October 2026, fdc.nal.usda.gov. The UK dataset, CoFID 2021 (gov.uk), has no soursop entry.
10. Food Standards Agency. Great Britain nutrition and health claims register and register of novel food authorisations, searched for annona, soursop, graviola and guanabana on 17 October 2026 with no results. data.food.gov.uk.
11. Clement YN, et al. Herbal remedies and functional foods used by cancer patients attending specialty oncology clinics in Trinidad. Cross-sectional survey, 150 patients, 2016. PubMed 27769229.
12. Cleret de Langavant L, et al. Annonaceae consumption worsens disease severity and cognitive deficits in degenerative parkinsonism. Observational study, 180 patients, non-US government funding, 2022. PubMed 36210778.
13. Caparros-Lefebvre D, Elbaz A. Possible relation of atypical parkinsonism in the French West Indies with consumption of tropical plants: a case-control study. Case-control study, 87 patients, 1999. PubMed 10440304; and Lannuzel A, et al. Atypical parkinsonism in Guadeloupe: a common risk factor for two closely related phenotypes? Cross-sectional study, 160 patients, 2007. PubMed 17303592.
14. Champy P, et al. Annonacin, a lipophilic inhibitor of mitochondrial complex I, induces nigral and striatal neurodegeneration in rats. Animal study, rats, 28 days intravenous, 2004. PubMed 14675150; and Rottscholl R, et al. Chronic consumption of Annona muricata juice triggers and aggravates cerebral tau phosphorylation in wild-type and MAPT transgenic mice. Animal study, mice, 12 months, 2016. PubMed 27569447.

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