An Extraordinary Medicinal Plant From India

An extraordinary medicinal plant from India.

The medical profession as we know now, probably came into play just about 300-400 year back. The human race is much older than 400 years. So, what did people in that era do when they fell ill? My information is that they depended a lot on nature. They were aware that certain plants, leaves, roots etc acted as medicines for a number of ailments. Man only discovered the healing properties of some plants, vegetables, trees etc but God had put all these on the ground millenniums earlier when He created the Earth.

So, we still continue to analyse the medicinal value of several herbs, tree parts, their by products etc and more and more discoveries are being made from time to time along with the allopathic medicines.

One plant by the name “Moringa” (botanical name ‘Moringa olefeira’) has proved itself much more versatile than any other as the scientists would have us believe.

The Moringa plant which could grow into a huge tree if allowed, originated initially in the Northern part of India some 5000 years back and soon moved into the Southern parts as well, where it was known as ‘Murungai keerai’ (Moringa leaves) and ‘Murungai kaai’ (Moringa vegetable).

During the plant stage, its leaves were used as food items; at the tree stage, it gave a vegetable, popularly known as ‘drumstick’ in English. The Moringa leaves and drum stick make a nutritious food in all South Indian homes.. The Southerners knew these as relishable food items and good for one’s health, that’s all. Little did they realize that they contained enormous benefits of high quality in all departments of human life until scientists came into the picture and started investigating their true potential.

One knowledgeable film producer from Chennai, who know quite a bit about the efficacy of Murungai keerai and drum stick (Moringa tree vegetable), portrayed them as highly potent stuff which increased the sexual drive in a man and woman to a very high degree almost overnight in one of his films in recent years. The film carried a story that an young wife served her ever busy IT professional husband, who had no time for ‘bed life’, a variety of dishes made out of Moringa leaves and drum stick for dinner and presto he was an uncontrollable bull that very night !

As years rolled by, the Moringa tree had spread to most part of Asia, nearly the whole of Africa, South America, southern part of North America and some pockets in Europe. It has been found useful in nutrition, agriculture, soil control, water purification, industrial applications, cattle feed etc and also for treating various types of illnesses in humans and livestock as shown in the list below:

• Nutrition
• Disease Prevention
• Ointment
• Alley Cropping
• Fertilizer
• Erosion Control
• Water Purification
• Cosmetics
• Textile Printing
• Insecticide
• Fungicide
• Lubricants
• Tanning Leather
• Dye
• Fiber Products
• Fences
• Ornamentation & Shade
• Wind Barrier
• Cane Juice Clarifier
• Honey Production
• Condiment
• Cooking Oil
• Honey Clarifier
• Food
• Traditional medicine:
• Anemia
• Anxiety
• Asthma
• Blackheads
• Blood impurities
• Blood pressure
• Bronchitis
• Catarrh
• Chest congestion
• Cholera
• Colitis
• Conjunctivitis
• Cough
• Diabetes
• Diarrhea
• Dropsy
• Dysentery
• Eye and ear infections
• Fever
• Glandular swelling
• Gonorrhea
• Headaches
• Hysteria
• Intestinal worms
• Jaundice
• Lactation
• Malaria
• Pain in joints
• Pimples
• Pregnancy
• Psoriasis
• Respiratory disorders
• Scurvy
• Semen deficiency
• Skin infections
• Sore throat
• Sores
• Sprain
• Stomach ulcers
• Tuberculosis
• Tumor
• Urinary disorders
• Wounds

It looks to be an all purpose medicine, doesn’t it? Perhaps no other leaf possesses such manifold virtues of human use as the moringa leaf. The Moringa leaves can be used (without prescription from a doctor !) as a cure for all the diseases mentioned above in addition to being a preventive medicine, like multi vitamin tablets. . It is a par excellence health tonic for all age groups.

Scientists have been investigating the traditional claims about Moringa. Let’s take a look at what they have found:

Scientists’ Discoveries

Nutritional analysis has shown that Moringa leaves are extremely nutritious. In fact, they contain larger amounts of several important nutrients than the common foods often associated with these nutrients. These include vitamin C, which fights a host of illnesses including colds and flu. Vitamin A, which acts as a shield against eye disease, skin disease, heart ailments, diarrhea, and many other diseases. Calcium, which builds strong bones and teeth and helps prevent osteoporosis. Potassium, which is essential for the functioning of the brain and nerves, and Proteins, the basic building blocks of all our body cells. Not only that, Moringa leaves also contain a wealth of other complementary vitamins and minerals.

Another important point is that Moringa leaves contain amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins and they contains these amino acids in a good proportion. These leaves could be a great boon to people who do not get protein from meat.

Further, it also contains argenine and histidine, which are especially important for infants who are unable to make enough protein for their growth requirements. Experts tell us that 30% of children in sub-Saharan Africa are protein deficient. Moringa could be an extremely valuable food source for them.

We are all very familiar with the problems of malnutrition in several parts of our world; malnutrition leads to premature death. Moringa leaves provide the solution for malnutrition and could be nearly wiped out if moringa leaves are included as an item of their daily menu.

Scientists have also established that every single part of the Moringa tree has been of great use not only to the human beings in terms of their health in one form or the other but also for their livestock. Moringa makes a great fodder for cattle. . The weight of livestock increased upto 32 per cent through moringa feed. And their milk yield of cows increased by 43 percent.

The dried leaves appear to be much more effective. One agriculturist fed his cows with just 2 kg of dry matter of Moringa per day in addition to the normal food he had been feeding them with and the milk production increased by 58 percent. Then he increased it to 3 kg per day, and the milk production increased by 65 percent. Perhaps more research would be needed in this regard.

Imagine what would be the result if milk production in developing countries is increased manifold by this method. The health of a country’s populace would witness a quantum jump besides manufacturing various milk products which will provide employment for millions..

Case study and more experiments

In 1997 to 1998, a test was conducted in Senegal to examine the ability of Moringa leaf powder to prevent or cure malnutrition in pregnant or breast-feeding women and their children. This test was a collaboration between Church World Service, whose Senegal representative, Mr. Lowell Fuglie, was a well-known Moringa expert and the Senegalese organization, Alternative Action for African Development (AGADA).

The test produced wonders in pregnant women.

Another experiment was converting the moringa leaves into powder form and using it as a spray. This spray has been found to be very effective with soybeans, corn, turnips, black beans, red beans, white beans, cow peas, bell peppers, chia, sunflowers, mung beans, onions, coffee, tea, chili peppers, melons and sorghum in that, their growth was accelerated, plants became firmer and more resistant to pest and other diseases, the life span was enhanced, roots were heavier and so were their stems and leaves; the yield of fruit was very large around 20 to 35 percent.

You can also produce methane out of the leaves. Experiments have established that it is possible to produce 4400 cubic meters of bio gas per hectare per year.

That is up to twice as much methane as can be produced per hectare per year from sugar beet leaves, a common plant material for biogas. Further experiments are needed to examine this potential use of Moringa.

Large scale production

If Nations are to be benefited, each country should resort to producing the plant on a large scale. The scientists have proposed growing Moringa intensively, as a field crop at a spacing as close as ten to fifteen centimeters. You don’t have to allow the crop to grow into trees but the leaves could be plucked from time to time keeping the height at a low level. Thus, Moringa could be cultivated over a large area like paddy or wheat crops.

Conclusion

Having noted down the numerous advantages of the Moringa (Murungai kai tree), you in your own small way may like to grow it in your backyard garden. How to go about it? Buy from the market a couple of Murungai kai – ‘drum stick’. It would be around 15 – 20 inches long. Dry it and extract out the seeds. Plant the seeds in your garden and within days the plant will sprout out and mature into a grand mini tree and later as a full fledged one with eye catching green leaves.

Use the leaves and the moringa vegetable in your daily meals. Nothing could be a cheaper health protector and health giver for ordinary people than Moringa. In your own small way, get into some R & D activities and share your findings with others. You never know, you may turn out to be the inventor of some medicine or technology.

So much about individual use. Next, pass on the idea to your government who could take it up for larger scale production and use in various fields on national level. They may go over to doing many experiments including clinical studies and research work in their own spheres on its use .