South Florida "miracle fruit" helps cancer patients manage chemo taste changes

A small red berry grown in South Florida is helping cancer patients reclaim something many lose during treatment: the ability to enjoy food.

Known scientifically as Synsepalum dulcificum, the fruit is commonly called the "miracle fruit" because of its remarkable effect on taste buds — particularly for patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Julie Ascen has been battling MALT lymphoma for nearly a year. Even before starting chemotherapy, eating was a struggle.

"When I tried the miracle fruit for the first time, my whole life changed," Ascen said. "It made the food taste better."

Chemotherapy often causes what doctors call "chemo mouth" — a persistent metallic or unpleasant taste that makes eating difficult.

Dr. Mike Cusnir, an oncologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center, has led some of the first studies examining the fruit's impact on cancer patients experiencing taste changes.

"What patients report with chemotherapy is that they may develop a bothersome taste that could be described as metallic, rotten food," Cusnir explained.

The miracle fruit temporarily alters taste buds for about 30 to 40 minutes. During that window, sour and bitter foods can taste sweet, making meals more tolerable.

But Cusnir is clear about its limitations.

"It is not the miracle cure," he said.

Instead, he describes it as a supportive tool — one that may help patients maintain nutrition and continue treatment.

At Miracle Fruit Farm in the Redland agricultural area, owner Erik Tieting has been cultivating thousands of trees since 2012.

"Miami is really the only perfect place in the United States to grow the bushes," Tieting said.

He often demonstrates the fruit's effects by having people taste a lemon after eating the berry.

"Anybody who has ever tried it finds that the effect is absolutely immediate," he said. "It tastes now more like an orange." 

The fruit itself is delicate. If not frozen, it can lose its potency within about 48 hours. Today, it's often sold frozen in cubes — typically 15 per package — to preserve its effects.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have studied the fruit's properties. Locally, both Mount Sinai Medical Center and Miami Cancer Institute make it available to patients as needed.

For Ascen, the impact goes beyond taste.

Radiation and chemotherapy may fight the cancer, she said, but they also bring overwhelming side effects.

"They kill the cancer, but they also do some damage to you in the rest of the process," she said.

The miracle fruit gives her back a sense of control.

"It is one of those miracles that, if you have this disease, you want to live your life and not have it control you. And this lets it not control me; I can control myself." 

A small berry grown in South Florida — making a meaningful difference, one meal at a time.