Monk fruit, known as the “fruit of the immortals” in China, has a long history of use as both a food and traditional medicinal ingredient. Its natural sweetness mainly comes from Mogroside V, which is approximately 200–300 times sweeter than sucrose with virtually zero calories. Today, monk fruit is gaining global attention as a natural sweetener, while its triterpene saponins, flavonoids, and polysaccharides are also being studied for their potential antioxidant, throat-soothing, and immune-modulating properties.
Monk Fruit: From Traditional Food-Medicine to Natural Sweetener
In traditional Chinese culture, monk fruit has long been known as the “fruit of the immortals.” Today, this distinctive fruit is gaining renewed attention worldwide. Its combination of traditional food-medicine heritage, naturally intense sweetness, and virtually zero-calorie characteristics has helped monk fruit transition from traditional herbal applications into modern food, beverage, and dietary supplement products.
Monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii) is a perennial vine belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family. Its fruits are spherical or oval, approximately 5–8 cm long and 4–6 cm in diameter. The fruit has a brown or yellowish-brown surface covered with fine hairs and is harvested in summer and autumn before being dried at a low temperature.
Monk fruit has been cultivated in China for more than 300 years. It is native to southern China and is primarily distributed in northern Guangxi, with production concentrated in Yongfu County and Longsheng County. These two areas account for more than 80% of China's total monk fruit production, while the remaining production is distributed across Guizhou, Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and other regions.
In 2002, China's former Ministry of Health issued the Notice on Further Standardizing the Management of Raw Materials for Health Foods, which included monk fruit in the list of substances that are both food and medicine. In 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified monk fruit extract as a “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) substance, allowing it to be used as a tabletop sweetener and as a sweetener in foods.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The sweetness of monk fruit comes primarily from mogrosides, which account for approximately 0.55%–0.65% of the fresh fruit. Among them, Mogroside V (MV) is the major sweet-tasting component of monk fruit. It is approximately 200–300 times sweeter than sucrose, contributes almost no calories, and provides a clean sweetness without other undesirable flavors.
Source: Reference [3] (Chemical structure of Mogroside V)
With its combination of low caloric contribution and high sweetness intensity, monk fruit has become a popular raw material in the sugar-reduction and sugar-substitute market.
Strong Consumer Acceptance of Monk Fruit Sweeteners
According to Americans’ Perceptions of Added Sugars & Sweeteners, published by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) in December 2025, monk fruit sweeteners maintained relatively stable and high consumer acceptance among U.S. consumers. The survey was conducted in September 2025 and included 1,002 U.S. adults aged 18 and older.
The survey found that, among 15 common sweeteners, consumers' willingness to consume different sweeteners was ranked on a 1–10 scale. Honey ranked first with a score of 6.60, followed by brown sugar at 6.01 and sucrose at 5.48, indicating that traditional caloric sweeteners still remain among consumers' preferred choices.
Among low-calorie and zero-calorie sweeteners, stevia ranked highest with a score of 4.91, while monk fruit sweeteners ranked second at 4.61. This was higher than sucralose (4.31) and aspartame (4.31), among other artificial sweeteners. These findings suggest that monk fruit sweeteners, as low-calorie, naturally derived, high-intensity sweeteners, have already established a relatively stable level of consumer awareness in the U.S. market.
Source: IFIC
More specifically, 8% of U.S. consumers reported that they were “extremely willing” (10 points) to purchase products containing monk fruit sweeteners. This percentage was lower only than honey (22%), brown sugar (15%), and sucrose (10%). It was higher than agave syrup (7%), aspartame (6%), sucralose (5%), saccharin (4%), xylitol (4%), erythritol (5%), acesulfame potassium (4%), allulose (4%), and maltitol (4%). Monk fruit sweeteners were tied with stevia (8%) and high-fructose corn syrup (8%) for fourth place.
In the high-willingness range of 8–10 points, monk fruit sweeteners accounted for a combined 20%, also exceeding sucralose (15%) and aspartame (16%). This indicates that monk fruit sweeteners have relatively strong appeal among consumers with a high willingness to purchase products containing these sweeteners.
Source: IFIC
Potential Health Benefits of Monk Fruit
Modern chemical analyses have shown that monk fruit contains a variety of chemical constituents, including triterpene saponins, flavonoids, and polysaccharides. These compounds have been associated with multiple biological activities, including antioxidant, throat-soothing, and immune-modulating effects.
1) Potential Skin Anti-Aging Effects
In a chronic inflammatory senescence model of human skin fibroblasts (HSF) induced by TNF-α, monk fruit extract significantly promoted the secretion of type I procollagen peptides in HSF cells, thereby helping to replenish the dermal layer and improve skin laxity.
At the same time, active components in monk fruit inhibited the secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in HaCaT cells and helped eliminate excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the skin, thereby improving inflammation-induced skin aging.
2) Throat-Soothing and Lung-Moistening Effects
The Revised Gazetteer of Lingui County, published during the 31st year of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, recorded that monk fruit was “as large as a persimmon, hollow inside, sweet in taste, and cool in nature, and used to treat cough due to fatigue.”
The Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China also records that monk fruit “clears heat and moistens the lungs, benefits the throat and restores the voice, and lubricates the intestines to promote bowel movements.” It is used for “dry cough caused by lung heat, sore throat and loss of voice, and constipation caused by intestinal dryness.”
In recent years, pharmacological studies have found that triterpene saponins in monk fruit may regulate the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway and inhibit the release of inflammatory factors, including IL-6, IL-1β, and PGE2. These effects may help reduce congestion and edema of the throat mucosa and may contribute to antitussive and expectorant activities.
The increasing understanding of the pharmacological mechanisms of monk fruit provides a clearer direction for the development of throat-soothing products using monk fruit as a raw material.
According to data from the Special Food Information Query Platform, as of August 2026, a total of 99 approved health food products in China used monk fruit as a raw material. Among them, 55 were throat-soothing products, accounting for more than half of the total.
3) Immune-Modulating Effects
Monk fruit polysaccharides have been shown to significantly enhance the phagocytic activity of macrophages, increase immune organ indices, hemolytic values, and B-lymphocyte proliferation in immunosuppressed mice, and increase the levels of immune factors such as IgG and IgM.
In addition, monk fruit extract may exert immunomodulatory effects by inhibiting M1 macrophage polarization and the expression of inflammatory factors under hyperglycemic inflammatory conditions.
References
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Qiuting M, Hao F, Dan Z, et al. Protective Effects of Mogroside V on Oxidative Stress Induced by H2O2 in Skin Fibroblasts. Drug Design, Development and Therapy. 2021;15:4901–4909.
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Xue G, Namuhan C, Kai R, et al. The Fruits of Siraitia grosvenorii: A Review of a Chinese Food-Medicine. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2019;10:1400.
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Maged Y, Gabriele A, Karl-Heinz E, et al. Safety of Use of Monk Fruit Extract as a Food Additive in Different Food Categories. EFSA Journal. European Food Safety Authority. 2019;17(12):e05921.