Moringa "Malunggay"

Called “Malunggay” in the Philippines, “Sajina” in the Indian Subcontinent, and “Moringa” in English, it is a popular tree. Many Asians use the leaves of Malunggay (Sajina) like spinach and also the fruit it produces as a vegetable, like asparagus. Both the leaves and the fruits are very nutritious, which contain many vitamins like Vitamin C and other minerals. For centuries, people in India, Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand have been eating these leaves as a part of their food.

Research on Malunggay

The seeds of Malunggay, Moringa oleifera, were extracted with distilled ethanol and concentrated under reduced pressure at 40oC. The resulting extract was partitioned between hexane, ethylacetate, butanol and water. The solvent fractions were likewise concentrated under reduced pressure.

The crude ethanol extract of dried seeds inhibited the carrageenan-induced inflammation in the hind paw of mice by 85% at a dosage of 3 mg/g body weight while the mature green seeds by 77%. The hexane fraction of the crude ethanol extract of the dried seeds also inhibited inflammation by 77% at the same dosage while both butanol and water fractions inhibited inflammation by only 34%. These results indicate the strong anti-inflammatory activities of the ethanol extract and the hexane fraction.

On the other hand, the ethylacetate fraction caused a 267% increase in inflammation and exhibited toxicity. The mice died after oral administration of the fraction. The crude ethanol extract also inhibited the formation of Epstein-Barr virus-early antigen (EBV-EA) induced by 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). At a dosage of 100?g/ml, the extract inhibited EBV-EA formation by 100% suggesting its anti-tumor-promoting activity.

Therapeutics of Malunggay/Moringa

Sometimes, people think that solutions to their problems are expensive and hard to find. But more often than not, real solutions to basic problems are abundant, cheap and even free. Health problems are especially solvable with natural inexpensive gifts from nature.

Moringa, for example, is a wonderful blessing for us all. Locally, it is called malunggay and is easily available everywhere. Unfortunately, it is little appreciated by many Filipinos. Today, I would like to share with the good news about Moringa, as written by Mark Fritz of the Los Angeles Times.

"Scientifically speaking, Moringa sounds like magic. It can rebuild weak bones, enrich anemic blood and enable a malnourished mother to nurse her starving baby. Ounce for ounce, it has the calcium of four glasses of milk, the vitamin C of seven oranges and the potassium of three bananas.

"A dash of Moringa can make dirty water drinkable. Doctors use it to treat diabetes in West Africa and high blood pressure in India. Not only can it staunch a skin infection, but Moringa also makes an excellent fuel and fertilizer.

"Memo to Popeye: Moringa has triple the iron of spinach and more impressive attributes than olive oil. Both Moringa and the common carrot are diamonds in the roughage department, but Moringa has quadruple the beta carotene, which is good for the eyes and effective against cancer."

Fritz also reports on the positive results of using Moringa as a substitute for expensive whole milk powder in nutrition projects.