Moringa: Benefits, Origin, Dosage

This shrub native to India shines for its powerful nutritive power and its many benefits.

Origin

There are 13 varieties of moringa, but the one that interests us for its many nutritional and therapeutic qualities is moringa oleifera.
Native to India, this small, fast-growing tree thrives in particularly dry and arid soils, although today it has become acclimatized in almost all tropical regions of Asia and Africa.

In India and Thailand, its fruits are tasted in many traditional recipes (curry, dals, korma, stir-fries, soups, etc.), and its flowers in donuts, in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia, the leaves are used in soups and vegetable broths and the Sahel, the leaves are a vegetable in their own right, eaten cooked like spinach.

Moringa has not stolen its nicknames of “tree of life” or “tree of miracles”: used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine, it attributes to it the power to fight more than 300 diseases, including colds, diabetes, high blood pressure or to stimulate the immune system.

Benefits

Fill nutrient deficiencies

This cocktail of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants is second to none when it comes to all nutritional deficiencies. Moringa is used in particular to fight against malnutrition and deficiencies in poor countries, and a large number of NGOs use it for this purpose.

Antioxidant

Moringa has a very strong antioxidant action which has been studied on numerous occasions. They all conclude to the strong capacity of the antioxidants contained in moringa to scavenge free radicals responsible for the oxidation of cells and their aging.

Purifying action

It is chlorophyll, present in very large quantities in moringa, that gives it this purifying action. This pigment, responsible for the green color of moringa leaves, promotes detoxification of the body’s cells. It is also beneficial to the health of the intestinal flora and helps fight against bloating and bacterial proliferation.

Antidiabetic

Several studies suggest a positive effect of moringa in the treatment of diabetes. Most were done on rats, like a 2015 study conducted in Saudi Arabia investigated the effect of moringa on male rats, which shows a positive effect on markers of diabetes and the histology of the kidney.

Cholesterol-lowering

Fresh moringa leaves were used by Indians to lower cholesterol levels in obese patients. A Nigerien study investigated the effect of moringa leaf extract associated with a low-fat diet and found a 14% decrease in serum, liver, and kidney cholesterol levels.

Anticancer

A 2011 study at the National University of Singapore investigated the action of moringa leaf extracts on human cancer cells. The results suggest that “M. oleifera leaf extracts exhibited strong anti-proliferation and potent induction of apoptosis [cell death]” and the study concludes that “M. oleifera leaf extracts have a potential for cancer chemoprevention and may be claimed as a therapeutic target for cancer. “

Dosage

In Europe, moringa is mainly marketed in the form of loose powder or in capsules.
To benefit from its nutritional and health benefits, we recommend one to two teaspoons of powder per day. When packaged as capsules, the dosage is stated on the package. The cure should ideally last 4 months.

Side effects and contraindications

The side effects and contraindications of dried moringa leaves come from their strong nutritional value and their therapeutic effects. Thus, people suffering from hypoglycemia should not start a course of moringa without medical advice.

Heavy consumption of moringa can cause sleep disturbances or insomnia, digestive problems (laxative effect), and more rarely heartburn.
Finally, due to its high vitamin A content, moringa is not recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women.