What Is Soursop? Fruit, Leaves, Graviola and Guanabana Explained

Soursop is the large, green, soft-spined fruit of Annona muricata, a small tropical tree in the custard-apple family. Graviola (Portuguese), guanabana (Spanish), guyabano (Filipino) and corossol (French) are the same plant; custard apple, cherimoya and sugar apple are related species, not the same fruit. The ripe pulp is an established food in the UK, sold fresh and frozen and as juice and nectar. The leaves are sold as tea, capsules and extracts, and that is where the evidence and the safety questions differ: no human trial has shown a health benefit from the leaves, and observational studies in the French Caribbean have linked long-term soursop consumption with an unusual form of parkinsonism.^{1, 2, 3} Soursop has no authorised nutrition or health claim in Great Britain.¹² This is the Wellgard soursop guide; every page in the series is listed below.

Evidence at a glance

• Human evidence for a benefit: one randomised trial of 143 adults (fruit juice, blood pressure, no placebo or blinding) and one randomised trial of 30 people (leaf extract, a laboratory marker in blood).^{7, 8}
• Safety: an association with atypical parkinsonism in studies of 87, 160 and 180 patients in the French Caribbean, replicated in French Guiana in 2025 and in a 2026 comparison of 74 Caribbean and 104 mainland-France patients; mechanism shown in cells, rats and mice.^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17}
• No safe intake set: the French food safety agency in 2010 and an EFSA-hosted review in 2020 both declined to set one.^{10, 11}
• Not tested: any soursop leaf product against a health outcome in people.

Sources checked on 17 October 2026.

What is soursop, and what is it called around the world?

Soursop is the fruit of Annona muricata, a small evergreen tree grown across the Caribbean, Central and South America, West Africa and South East Asia.⁹ The fruit is heart-shaped or oblong, often the size of a small melon, with a dark green skin covered in soft, curved spines; inside is white, fibrous pulp with a sweet-sharp taste and dozens of hard black seeds. Every part of the plant has a long history of traditional use, and the fruit is made into juices, nectars, ice creams and sweets wherever it grows.⁹ One plant carries many names, and the names are the first source of confusion.

In practice, "soursop" is the word for the fruit and "graviola" is the word on supplement labels. Both mean the same tree, and the research on one applies to the other.

Is soursop the same as custard apple, cherimoya or sugar apple?

No. Custard apple (Annona reticulata), cherimoya (Annona cherimola) and sugar apple or sweetsop (Annona squamosa) are separate species of the same genus. They share a creamy flesh and, in their seeds and other parts, the same family of compounds, but they differ in size, skin, flavour and in how much research exists on each.⁹ Soursop is the largest and the only one with soft spines. Research on one species is not evidence about another.

Which parts of the soursop plant are sold, and as what?

Four parts reach UK shelves, and they are not interchangeable.

• Fruit pulp, fresh or frozen, and juice and nectar. The pulp is an established food: soursop is listed by name in the retained fruit-nectar rules, with a minimum fruit content of 25%.¹⁴ An average fruit was estimated to contain about 15 mg of annonacin, the plant's most abundant acetogenin, and a can of commercial nectar about 36 mg, in one French analysis.⁶
• Leaves, as loose tea, tea bags, powder, capsules and "graviola" extracts. The leaves are where most of the laboratory research has been done and where no human trial has measured a health outcome.^{8, 9}
• Seeds are not eaten; a seed extract was the most toxic preparation in one laboratory test of Annonaceae products on human nerve cells.¹⁵
• Bark and root appear in some traditional preparations and in a few bitters and tonics.⁹

The differences in chemistry, evidence and law are set out on soursop fruit vs soursop leaves.

Is soursop good for you? What has been tested in people

As a fruit, soursop is a fruit: 100 g of raw pulp carries about 66 kcal, 3.3 g of fibre and 20.6 mg of vitamin C, about a quarter of the 80 mg reference intake, with 278 mg of potassium.¹³ 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 control group; there was no placebo and no blinding, and the trial was funded by a university study group.⁷ One further randomised trial, of 30 people after bowel cancer surgery, measured a laboratory marker in blood after eight weeks of a leaf extract, not a health outcome.⁸ Everything else, from blood sugar to immunity, sleep and weight, rests on cell and animal studies or on surveys of traditional use.⁹ Soursop has no authorised health claim in Great Britain.¹² The claim-by-claim ladder is on soursop benefits: what the evidence shows.

What is soursop tea, and can you drink it every day?

Soursop tea is an infusion or decoction of the dried leaves, not the fruit, and it is the form most people in the UK ask about. A cup carries far less annonacin than a fruit, about 0.14 mg from crumpled leaves against about 15 mg in a fruit, rising to about 0.4 mg a cup when the leaves are crushed.^{6, 10} Nobody can say that daily use is safe: the only long-term human data come from the Caribbean studies below, in which herbal tea was one of the exposures, and no agency has set an intake. The full answer, including what gets into the cup and who should not drink it, is on is soursop tea safe to drink every day?.

Is soursop linked to Parkinson's disease? The safety signal, stated plainly

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 studies of 87, 160 and 180 patients between 1999 and 2022.^{1, 2, 3} These are observational studies: they show an association, not proof that soursop caused the illness. Laboratory and animal work explains how it could: annonacin blocks mitochondrial complex I, kills dopamine neurons in culture, and damaged rat and mouse brains when given for a month intravenously or for a year in commercial soursop juice.^{4, 5} In the 2022 analysis of 180 patients, lifetime fruit or juice intake above 0.2 fruit-years went with 3.76 times the odds of the severe form of the disease (95% confidence interval 1.13 to 15.18), and any herbal tea with 2.91 times (1.34 to 6.56).³ A 2025 study found the same pattern in French Guiana, and a 2026 comparison found more severe motor and cognitive scores in 74 Caribbean patients with ordinary Parkinson's disease, 71 of whom had eaten the fruit, than in 104 matched patients in mainland France.^{16, 17} The French food safety agency concluded in 2010 that it could not affirm the link and could not propose a quantitative intake, and an EFSA-hosted review in 2020 found "substantial uncertainties" and no basis for a safe intake level.^{10, 11} Every study, figure and agency position is on annonacin, soursop and parkinsonism; the practical consequences are on soursop side effects and who should avoid it.

Does soursop have anything to do with cancer?

Extracts of soursop leaves kill cancer cells in laboratory dishes, which is why the claim spread. In people, no clinical trial has measured whether soursop shrinks a tumour, delays recurrence or extends life; the only randomised trial measured a laboratory marker in 28 people.^{8, 9} In the UK, the Cancer Act 1939 prohibits any advertisement that offers cancer treatment, a remedy for cancer or advice on its treatment, and anyone having cancer treatment should tell their cancer team before taking any soursop product.¹⁸ The human studies, one by one, are on soursop and cancer: what the human research shows.

What does a graviola supplement label tell you?

Less than it seems to. A "13,500 mg equivalent" on a 450 mg capsule describes an extract ratio, not an amount of anything in the capsule, and no UK product we know of states an annonacin or acetogenin content. The figures that matter are the botanical name, the plant part, the actual milligrams per serving and the warnings; how to read a graviola supplement label works through them.

Is soursop legal in the UK?

The fruit is: soursop pulp, juice and nectar are established foods, listed in the retained fruit-nectar rules.¹⁴ Leaf teas, powders and capsules are a different question. A novel food is one "not used for human consumption to a significant degree within the United Kingdom (UK) or the European Union (EU) before 15 May 1997", and it needs authorisation before sale.¹² The GB register of novel food authorisations, last updated 31 March 2026, holds no entry for annona, soursop, graviola or guanabana.¹² 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 FSA treats that catalogue as an indicative reference in Great Britain, so for leaf products the status is the seller's compliance question, not a safety verdict.²⁰ The detail is on is soursop legal in the UK?.

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. The fruit, eaten occasionally as a fruit, is a food; the concerns in the research attach to regular, long-term intake and to concentrated leaf products.^{3, 11}

What we don't know

• Whether soursop causes atypical parkinsonism, or how much over how long would matter: the human evidence is observational, exposure was recalled from memory, and no dose-response in people has been measured.^{1, 2, 3}
• How much annonacin is in any UK tea bag, capsule or bitters; no product discloses it, and fruit samples varied sixteen-fold in acetogenin content.^{6, 19}
• Whether soursop leaf, in any form, does anything useful in people; no trial has measured a health outcome.⁸
• Whether the catalogue's leaf classification counts in Great Britain as a pre-2021 EU decision that binds or a later one that informs.^{12, 20}

Every guide in this series

Soursop fruit vs soursop leaves (composition, evidence and law); soursop benefits: what the evidence shows; is soursop tea safe to drink every day?; soursop side effects and who should avoid it; annonacin, soursop and parkinsonism; soursop and cancer: what the human research shows; how to read a graviola supplement label; is soursop legal in the UK?.

Frequently asked questions

Are soursop, graviola and guanabana the same thing?

Yes. All three names, with guyabano and corossol, belong to Annona muricata.⁹ "Soursop" is the English name of the fruit; "graviola" is the Portuguese name and the one used on supplement labels; "guanabana" is Spanish. A finding about one is a finding about all three.

Which organ is soursop good for?

None in particular, on the human evidence. The one randomised trial with a health outcome measured blood pressure in 143 adults drinking fruit juice, in an unblinded design; no human trial has measured an effect on the liver, kidneys, gut or immune system.^{7, 9} As a fruit, soursop supplies fibre, vitamin C and potassium like many tropical fruits.¹³

Who should not consume soursop?

Anyone with Parkinson's disease or another neurological condition, anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone on blood pressure or diabetes medicines, and anyone having cancer treatment should speak to their GP, pharmacist or specialist team before taking any soursop leaf product.^{3, 11} No agency has set a safe intake for leaf, tea, capsules or extracts.^{10, 11}

Can you grow soursop in the UK?

Not outdoors. Annona muricata is a frost-tender tropical tree that needs year-round warmth and humidity; in the UK it survives only in a heated greenhouse or conservatory and rarely fruits.⁹

Sources

1. 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, Guadeloupe, 1999. PubMed 10440304.
2. Lannuzel A, et al. Atypical parkinsonism in Guadeloupe: a common risk factor for two closely related phenotypes? Cross-sectional study, 160 patients, non-US government funding, 2007. PubMed 17303592.
3. Cleret de Langavant L, et al. Annonaceae consumption worsens disease severity and cognitive deficits in degenerative parkinsonism. Observational study with clustering, 180 patients, French Caribbean, non-US government funding, 2022. PubMed 36210778.
4. 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.
5. 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 of a commercial soursop juice, 2016. PubMed 27569447.
6. 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.
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, funded by a university study group (Universitas Gadjah Mada), 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 and 28 completed, 8 weeks, laboratory marker only, funding not stated, 2017. PubMed 28582808.
9. Moghadamtousi SZ, et al. Annona muricata (Annonaceae): a review of its traditional uses, isolated acetogenins and biological activities. Narrative review, University of Malaya funding, 2015. PubMed 26184167.
10. 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 the Guadeloupe group's analyses (Champy 2005, PubMed 16078200). anses.fr.
11. Raclariu-Manolica AC, Bakhiya N, Hirsch-Ernst KI. Risk assessment regarding the use of Annona muricata in food supplements. EU-FORA fellowship technical report hosted by EFSA (not a Panel opinion), approved 7 September 2020, published 26 November 2020. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2020.e181112.
12. Food Standards Agency. Register of novel food authorisations (Great Britain), last updated 31 March 2026, searched for annona, soursop, graviola and guanabana on 17 October 2026 with no results; and Novel foods authorisation guidance, published 30 May 2018. data.food.gov.uk; gov.uk.
13. USDA FoodData Central. Soursop, raw (SR Legacy 167761), per 100 g, read 17 October 2026, fdc.nal.usda.gov. The UK dataset, McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID 2021, gov.uk), has no soursop entry.
14. Retained Directive 2001/112/EC relating to fruit juices and fruit nectars, Annex IV (soursop nectar, minimum 25% fruit). legislation.gov.uk.
15. Höllerhage M, et al. Neurotoxicity of dietary supplements from Annonaceae species. Laboratory study, extracts of supplements, fruit pulp and seed on human mesencephalic neurons, non-US government funding, two authors at the US FDA, 2015. PubMed 26405269.
16. Nasri A, et al. Atypical parkinsonian syndromes in French Guiana: similarities and differences with Caribbean variants. Community cohort comparison, 372 patients, no conflicts declared, 2025. PubMed 40961237.
17. Ribeyron L, et al. The clinical effect of Annonaceae fruit consumption on Caribbean Parkinson's disease severity. Multicentre observational comparison, 74 Caribbean and 104 mainland-France patients, no conflicts declared, 2026. PubMed 42192274.
18. Cancer Act 1939, section 4 (prohibition of certain advertisements). legislation.gov.uk.
19. 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.
20. European Commission. EU Novel Food Status Catalogue, entry Annona muricata L., last updated 27 May 2024, read 17 October 2026, ec.europa.eu; listed as a status resource in the FSA guidance at gov.uk.

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