Category: Malunggay

Malunggay (Moringa) the Miracle Plant # 3 -Aid for Malnutrition

This is my 3rd post in my search for Malunggay(Phil.) or Moringa (English), a miracle plant. This post talks about “Malnutrition.” You can check here for more info…
Here’s another info I’ve got:
MALNUTRITION
Moringa trees have been used to combat malnutrition, especially among infants and nursing mothers. Three non-governmental organizations in particular—Trees for Life, Church World Service and Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization—have advocated Moringa as “natural nutrition for the tropics.” Leaves can be eaten fresh, cooked, or stored as dried powder for many months without refrigeration, and reportedly without loss of nutritional value. Moringa is especially promising as a food source in the tropics because the tree is in full leaf at the end of the dry season when other foods are typically scarce. (Jed W. Fahey, 2005)
A large number of reports on the nutritional qualities of Moringa now exist in both the scientific and the popular literature. Moringa leaves contain more Vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, more Vitamin C than oranges, and more potassium than bananas,” and that the protein quality of Moringa leaves rivals that of milk and eggs. The oral histories recorded by Lowell Fuglie in Senegal and throughout West Africa, who reports countless instances of lifesaving nutritional rescue that are attributed to Moringa (Fuglie, L.J., 1999, 2000). In fact, the nutritional properties of Moringa are now so well known that there seems to be little doubt of the substantial health benefit to be realized by consumption of Moringa leaf powder in situations where starvation is imminent.
Nonetheless, the outcomes of well controlled and well documented clinical studies are still clearly of great value. (Jed W. Fahey, 2005) In many cultures throughout the tropics, differentiation between food and medicinal uses of plants (e.g. bark, fruit, leaves, nuts, seeds, tubers, roots, flowers), is very difficult since plant uses span both categories and this is deeply ingrained in the traditions and the fabric of the community (Lockett et al., 2000). ”
I agree with this statements above that it can combat malnutrition because I had been a nursing mom before and I love to eat this miracle plant while feeding my babies and it has been proven to have healthy babies and moms as well.
Another post coming…
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Malunggay- the Miracle Plant – # 1

Malunggay is a leafy green vegetable that we love to eat in the Phil. It tastes good for me, but tastes bitter to others. It’s a kind of vegetable that has a lot of nutrients and recently it was discovered that it can heal a lot of diseases.
When we first came to Thailand, we missed that kind of vegetable because it’s not common to them nor can be found anywhere.
Few years ago, my friend came to Thailand and attended a seminar, and she told me that they specifically had a seminar on a Miracle Plant – she didn’t know the plant at first because it was known for its scientific name. And when she saw the picture, she was shocked when it was our malunggay in the Phil. Just imagine coming to another country just to attend a seminar on the leafy vegetable that we commonly ate in the Phil. She laughed when she shared it to me.
Similarly, we could hardly find this kind of plant in Thailand unless Filipinos brought it here for their family consumption. People living in the mountains loved this kind of green leafy vegetable (malunggay) in our place and no question about it because they are healthy and strong. I presume people in the Phil. had one or more malunggay trees planted around their house. Every one has one for family consumption and others sold it if there were a lot of malunggay planted with many leaves.

I will make a post again after I do the google search.

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