Soursop Fruit vs Leaves: Composition, Evidence and Legal Status

The fruit and the leaves of the same tree are different foods in law, in chemistry and in evidence. The ripe pulp has a long history of eating and is listed by name in the UK fruit-nectar rules; it contains annonacin too, about 15 mg in an average fruit in one analysis. The leaves are the basis of most teas, capsules and "graviola" extracts; they contain acetogenins and alkaloids at concentrations that depend on how they are extracted, no human trial has shown a health benefit from them, and the EU Novel Food Catalogue classes the leaves as a novel food needing authorisation before sale.^{1, 11, 13} This page is one spoke of the Wellgard soursop guide.

Evidence at a glance

• Fruit, human trials: one randomised trial of 143 adults, fruit juice, blood pressure, no placebo or blinding.⁷
• Safety: in 180 Caribbean patients, fruit or juice above 0.2 fruit-years carried 3.76 times the odds of severe disease, any herbal tea 2.91 times.⁶
• Agencies: no safe intake set for any preparation (France 2010; EFSA-hosted review 2020).^{9, 10}

Sources checked on 17 October 2026.

What is in soursop fruit?

Mostly water, sugar and fibre, like any fruit. Per 100 g of raw pulp: 81 g of water, 66 kcal, 16.8 g of carbohydrate, 3.3 g of fibre, 20.6 mg of vitamin C and 278 mg of potassium.¹² The pulp also carries the compounds the safety research is about: an average fruit was estimated to contain about 15 mg of annonacin, the most abundant annonaceous acetogenin, and a can of commercial nectar about 36 mg.¹ The amount varies: seven fruit samples ranged from 14 to 226 micromoles of total acetogenins per 100 g of pulp, a sixteen-fold spread, so no single "per fruit" number is reliable.²

What is in soursop leaves?

The same two families of compounds in a drier, more concentrated form: annonaceous acetogenins, of which more than 100 have been isolated from the leaves, bark, seeds, roots and fruit, and isoquinoline alkaloids such as reticuline.⁴ How much reaches you depends on the solvent. In one laboratory study, methanol and ethanol extraction recovered about 306 and 226 micrograms of annonacin per gram of dried leaf, while a hot-water tea made from 2.5 g of leaves recovered about 0.2% of the leaf's annonacin.¹⁴ Acetogenins have been detected in herbal-tea leaves, pulp and bottled nectar on sale.⁵

What does the evidence cover for each part?

The fruit has the only trial with a health outcome; the leaves have most of the laboratory work and the agency concern.

What does the law say about each part?

The fruit is an established food: soursop appears by name in the retained rules on fruit juices and nectars, with a minimum fruit content of 25% for soursop nectar.¹³ The leaves are different. The EU Novel Food Catalogue entry for Annona muricata, last updated 27 May 2024, classes the fruit as not novel and the seeds, fruit peel, leaves and roots as novel foods needing pre-market authorisation; the GB register of novel food authorisations, last updated 31 March 2026, holds no soursop entry, and the FSA treats the catalogue as an indicative reference in Great Britain, so leaf products are the seller's compliance question, set out on is soursop legal in the UK?.¹¹

Bitters, drops and tonics: what the label should tell you

Bitters, "drops" and tonics are the least transparent soursop form on sale. A useful label states the botanical name, the plant part, the milligrams of soursop per serving, the extract ratio if any, and warnings for pregnancy, medicines and neurological conditions; where the plant part is missing, assume leaf, bark or root rather than fruit. How to read a graviola supplement label works through "equivalent" milligrams.

Which is safer, the fruit or the leaves?

Neither has a safe amount set, and the arithmetic cuts both ways. Per serving the fruit carries far more annonacin: about 15 mg in a fruit and 36 mg in a can of nectar, against about 0.14 mg in a cup of infusion from crumpled leaves and about 0.4 mg from crushed leaves.^{1, 9} The French analysis put it bluntly: an adult eating one fruit or one can of nectar a day would take in over a year about the amount of annonacin that produced brain lesions in rats.¹ But the Caribbean studies did not clear the tea: in the 2022 analysis of 180 patients, any herbal-tea consumption went with 2.91 times the odds of the severe form of the disease, and fruit or juice above 0.2 fruit-years with 3.76 times.⁶ Both are associations, not proof of cause. The difference that holds: the fruit is a food with a long history, eaten as fruit, while leaf products are taken daily, for months, as a supplement, the long-term exposure the agencies worry about.^{9, 10} The signal and its grade are 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.^{6, 10} The detail, medicine by medicine, is on soursop side effects and who should avoid it.

What we don't know

• How much annonacin is in any UK leaf tea, capsule or bitters; no product we know of discloses it.⁵
• Whether the catalogue's leaf classification binds in Great Britain or only informs.¹¹
• Whether fruit and tea carry the same risk per milligram of annonacin; the Caribbean studies recorded both.^{6, 16}
• Whether soursop leaf does anything useful in people; no trial has measured a health outcome.⁸

Frequently asked questions

What are the benefits of soursop leaves?

None has been shown in people. The one randomised trial of a leaf extract, in 30 people after bowel cancer surgery, measured a blood marker after eight weeks; the blood-sugar and blood-pressure effects quoted online come from animals and cells.^{4, 8} The claim-by-claim ladder is on soursop benefits: what the evidence shows.

Is boiled soursop leaf water the same as soursop tea?

It is a decoction rather than an infusion, and it extracts more: about 0.4 mg of annonacin a cup from crushed leaves against 0.14 mg from crumpled leaves in the French agency's figures.⁹ Everything on soursop tea applies to leaf water, with a larger dose.

Can you eat soursop leaves?

Not as a vegetable. The recorded uses are infusions, decoctions and poultices, and now tea, powder and capsules; a powder or capsule delivers the leaf's acetogenins without the dilution of a tea.^{4, 14}

What is the best way to consume soursop?

As the fruit, as food: the form with a history of ordinary eating, the form the law treats as a food, and the only form tested against a health outcome.^{7, 13} No agency has set a safe amount for leaf, tea, capsules, extracts or bitters.^{9, 10}

Sources

1. Champy P, et al. Quantification of acetogenins in Annona muricata linked to atypical parkinsonism in Guadeloupe. Chemical analysis, non-US government funding, 2005. PubMed 16078200.
2. Bonneau N, et al. 1H qNMR quantification of annonaceous acetogenins in crude extracts of Annona muricata fruit pulp. Chemical analysis, seven fruit samples, 2017. PubMed 28092423.
3. Höllerhage M, et al. Neurotoxicity of dietary supplements from Annonaceae species. Laboratory study on human neurons, two authors at the US FDA, 2015. PubMed 26405269.
4. 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.
5. Champy P, et al. MALDI-TOF MS profiling of annonaceous acetogenins in Annona muricata products for human consumption. Analytical screening of tea leaves, pulp and nectar, 2009. PubMed 20032889.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. AFSSA (now ANSES). Avis relatif aux risques liés à la consommation de corossol et de ses préparations, saisine 2008-SA-0171. Agency opinion, in French, 28 April 2010; its per-fruit and per-cup figures draw on Champy 2005 (PubMed 16078200). anses.fr.
10. Raclariu-Manolica AC, et al. Risk assessment regarding the use of Annona muricata in food supplements. EU-FORA fellowship technical report hosted by EFSA, not a Panel opinion, 2020. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2020.e181112.
11. Food Standards Agency. Register of novel food authorisations (Great Britain), last updated 31 March 2026, searched 17 October 2026: no soursop entry; and Novel foods authorisation guidance, 30 May 2018. data.food.gov.uk; gov.uk. EU Novel Food Status Catalogue, entry Annona muricata L., last updated 27 May 2024, read 17 October 2026, ec.europa.eu.
12. 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.
13. Retained Directive 2001/112/EC on fruit juices and fruit nectars, Annex IV (soursop nectar, minimum 25% fruit). legislation.gov.uk.
14. de Moraes IVM, et al. UPLC-QTOF-MS and NMR analyses of graviola (Annona muricata) leaves. Laboratory extraction study, one leaf source, Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia 26(2):174-179, 2016. doi:10.1016/j.bjp.2015.12.001.
15. 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.
16. 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.

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