Garcinia mangostana L. (mangosteen, Clusiaceae) has a long history of use as a medical plant, mostly in Southeast Asia. This is a review of the phytochemistry and pharmacology of mangosteen. Traditionally mangosteen is famous for its antiinflammatory properties and is used in the treatment of skin infections and wounds. Other applications include the therapy of various conditions such as dysentery, different urinary disorders, cystitis and gonorrhoea. This review highlights the development of this botanical drug into a widely used nutraceutical. Products derived from G. mangostana are now distributed increasingly all over the world. This has given rise to a concomitant increase in research on the phytochemical constituents and biological activity of mangosteen. Central to the biological activity of the species are xanthones which are reviewed in detail. A comprehensive assessment of the biological activities of individual xanthones as well as extracts of G. mangostana is included. In addition, its potential in terms of developing novel drug leads is assessed. Products containing its fruits are now sold widely as 'liquid botanical supplements', but evidence for the health benefits of these products is still lacking. As shown here, a serious weakness in our knowledge is the lack of clinical data and it is not yet clear to what extent the findings about pharmacological activities are of potential clinical relevance.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
36
9%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
23
6%
Other
46
11%
Unknown
172
43%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 24. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 31 July 2025.
All research outputs
#1,895,185
of 30,096,795 outputs
Outputs from Phytotherapy Research
#377
of 3,757 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#7,519
of 214,916 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Phytotherapy Research
#7
of 55 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 30,096,795 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,757 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.0. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 214,916 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 55 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.
