Moringa – A New Superfood

The term ‘super’ is used to declare superiority, may it be Superman or Superfood.

It symbolizes enormous power and ability to solve problems.

Similarly, superfood gives the power to fight against diseases and aging due to its great nutritional composition whilst having a low caloric content.

Recently, Moringa proved its ability to be the new superfood, packed with trace minerals and all essential amino acids with the highest protein content of any non-legume plant.

It is an amazing gift of nature, easy to cultivate and accessible to people.

Some interesting facts about Moringa

In recent times, Moringa has pioneered in defining Superfood.

But in traditional history, Moringa was one of the most primitive, and economic crops that grow in the Himalayan foothills.

Extensive cultivation of Moringa occurs across the tropical regions¹.

Cultivation and native place of Moringa

The sub-Himalayan region is the native place of Moringa.

A vast area of Africa, Middle East, Asia, America, Cambodia, Philippines, and the Caribbean islands cultivate Moringa.

The documented historical evidence from the early era of the first century A.D. proved that cultivation of Moringa started in India before thousands of years².

Moringa can withstand drought, and can also be grown in sandy soil which made it a super survival crop.

It has got several names such as:

• Drumstick tree (because of drumstick looking green pods),
• Miracle tree (one solution for many),
• Benzoil tree (because of its oil), and
• Horseradish tree (as the root resembles)^3,4.

Moringa in the Royal dish

Believe it or not!

Moringa use to be the secret ingredient in royal dishes, offered to the queen to bestow beauty and ageless skin, and to the king to enhance mental alertness.

Searching ancient history reveals that Indian Maurian warriors used to believe that drinking Moringa elixir prepared from the leaf extract, – helps them to provide:

• Extra energy
• Analgesic effects
• Anti-stress benefits.

Therefore, they used to consume Moringa Leaf Extracts before and during battles.

May this be the surreptitious truth behind their win against the ‘Great Alexander’2?

And if you too, want to win your gym battles J and recover fast after long hours of office work.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

You can use this delicious energy/sport recovery Moringa smoothie I created for you below here:

• 1 ½ cup of fresh coconut water
• ½ – 1 cup of fresh pineapple
• 1-2 cup of fresh mixed berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries)
• 2 large table spoons of organic Moringa powder
• 1 cup of spinach
• 1 table spoon of grinded chia seeds
• 1 heaped tablespoon of plant based protein

Just ensure you don’t have any sensitivities or allergies regarding the ingredients used in the Moringa smoothie recipe.

Why Moringa was introduced as Superfood in Western countries?

Research shows that people in the UK consume high levels of cholesterol rich saturated fat, sugar, and salt-rich food items.

Most of these products are calorie rich but very deficient in essential nutrients.

Research show that in the UK people also eat less:

• Fresh fruits
• Vegetables,
• Fiber-rich foods
• Omega-3 fatty acid⁵.

And whilst a calorie rich meal makes it easy if you want to gain weight, the lack of nutrients in these foods are increasing iron, calcium, magnesium and other essential nutrients deficiencies.

According to British Nutrition Foundation, mineral intake is low in the UK population, and puts at risk the overall nutritional status of UK population⁶.

The addition of Moringa-the Superfood, in our daily diet, can supply all the essential nutrients which we commonly lack due to one reason or another.

Therefore the miracle Moringa tree can help you address some of the most complex nutritional deficiencies.

Nothing to discard in Moringa

Moringa is one of the few plants with a variety of nutritional compositions.

The entire plant part possesses potential therapeutic value.

If you grow Moringa plant in your garden, then you can enjoy its multiple therapeutic benefits by not only consuming Moringa leaves, but also the:

• Seeds,
• Flowers,
• Pods,
• Barks, and
• Roots².

As you can see below all parts of Moringa have different therapeutic benefits.

Moringa – the ultimate nutritional powerhouse fights cholesterol builds up

To improve our health we aim to add multiple fruits and vegetables in our daily diet to get proper nutrition.

Often we take orange to get vitamin C, carrot for vitamin A, banana for potassium, spinach for iron.

Milk and milk products are the major sources of calcium and we consider yogurt for being rich in protein.

However, Some of the countries with the highest osteoporosis rate in the world are the biggest consumers of dairy products^{7, 8}.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

But surprisingly, Moringa alone can be the best alternative for these multiple food items.

The dark green Moringa supplies 25 times more iron than spinach⁹.

Let me explain this through an info-graphic which will surely impact on your outlook on Moringa.

We all know about the powers of high density lipoprotein (HDL), which is considered as good cholesterol.

HLD helps to remove some of the bad cholesterols such as low density lipoprotein (LDL).

Moringa leaf helps to improve the HDL level in our blood and prevents the dyslipidemic condition^{10, 11, and 12}.

Not only have these, but the high content of all the essential macro and micro ingredients also made Moringa as a God gifted tree or a miracle tree.

Recently, a detailed nutritional analysis has been conducted, which I am just sharing with you in the below-mentioned table¹³.

This proves why when Moringa is in your daily diet it helps you to close your nutritional gaps and compensate for all the required nutrition.

Here are more scientifically proven health benefits of Moringa

Provides proper nourishment to body

Adding Moringa in your daily diet can improve your life through nutritional quality by supplying some essential nutrients including trace mineral like:

• Copper,
• Iron,
• Manganese, and
• Zinc along with the adequate amount of
• Protein and
• Vitamin A.

In 2017, a small scale randomized clinical trial showed that M. oleifera leaf fortified foods could adequately supply all the essential nutrients¹⁴.

Last year, another pilot study reported M. oleifera leaf fortified foods can prevent vitamin A deficiency diseases by supplying an adequate amount of β‐carotene and other minerals¹⁵.

These evidential reports support the efficacy of Moringa in body nourishment.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

Reduces inflammation

Inflammation is one of the major underlying causes of many chronic diseases.

In our day to day life, stress and other factors increase the burden of free oxygen radicals (ROS) in our body system and among other contributing factors lead to inflammatory conditions like:

• IBD,
• Arthritis,
• Asthma and
• Edema.

Here is how inflammation can affect your body.

Moringa contains 46 antioxidants and 36 anti-inflammatory phytochemicals.

The anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects of Moringa provide an alternative treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBS)¹⁶.

Certain anti-inflammatory phytochemicals like Beta-sitosterol, caffeoylquinic acid and isothiocyanates present in Moringa impart anti-inflammatory property^17,18.

The Moringa (MO) root extract is beneficial for arthritis, as Aurantiamide acetate a rare dipeptide and 1,3-dibenzyl Urea, a rare urea derivative isolated from this plant part.

Both of these phytochemicals have anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects¹⁹, because they have inhibitory effect on inflammatory cytokines, such as TNFα and IL-2.

Thus Moringa root extract has antiarthritic activity^{19, 20}.

The potent anti-inflammatory effect of Moringa is effective to reduce asthma and to some extent it helps treating bronchial inflammation^{21, 22}.

A research also showed that Moringa is effective to reduce edema.

The effect is noticeable within 1-hour since the treatment start²³.

Improves digestion

Moringa containing very important alkaloids.

These are nitrogen base chemical compounds such as:

• N,α-l-rhamnopyranosyl vincosamide, phenylacetonitrile pyrrolemarumine,
• 4′-hydroxyphenylethanamide-α-l-rhamnopyranoside and its
• Glucopyranosyl derivative²⁴, and
• Other phytochemicals help to reduce gastrointestinal disorders by providing protection against ulcer²⁵.

Moringa has the ability to increase the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) level by increasing enterochromaffin cells (EC) number in gastrointestinal tract²⁶.

5-HT is alternatively known as Serotoni, a neurotransmitter synthesized in EC present in intestinal mucosa.

Moringa improves the functioning of both 5-HT and EC.

Moringa can also help to improve digestion and absorption by improving neurological coordination and gastric motility²⁷.

The outcome of these physiological benefits helps to prevent:

• Constipation,
• Irritable bowel syndrome,
• Post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome and
• Inflammatory bowel disease²⁷.

Researchers also acknowledged that synthetic antacids (medicine which neutralises excess stomach acid) and antihistamines (medicine blocks the histamine), a neurotransmitter functioning and control the acid secretion from stomach to prevent gastric irritation²⁹ could replace by alternative herbal treatment of Moringa.

Even preventive treatment of Moringa is effective to reduce the scope of gastro-intestinal surgery²⁶.

The vitamin B content present in Moringa helps in:

• Food digestion,
• Utilisation of food energy and
• Preventing deposits of fat storage³⁰.

The liver protective effect and anti-diarrheal properties of Moringa improve:

• Digestion and
• Prevent common stomach problems³¹.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

Enables muscle growth

The protein present in Moringa can preserve physiological functioning, and build different body tissues including cellular structure, bones, and muscles.

Protein is also essential for muscle repair and building etc.

Just one intake of 100 g Moringa leaf alone can supply 8.1 g protein¹³.

Protein is made up of a sequence of amino acids.

We need almost 20 amino acids to prepare necessary proteinaceous structures of our body.

Among them, our body itself can prepare almost 11 amino acids, but the remaining nine essential amino acids must be obtained from a proper diet.

Surprisingly, Moringa alone contains all these nine essential amino acids.

Therefore, the addition of Moringa in the diet can never create a deficiency of essential amino acids³¹.

Boosts immunity

Moringa has potent antioxidant effect with an abundant source of:

• Vitamin A,
• Vitamin C,
• Vitamin E.

The natural combination of these vitamins improves your:

• Immunity and
• Reduce the risk of disease.

A human study conducted in 1991 reported combinations of vitamin A, C, and E supplement for 28 days therapy improves immune parameters among the elderly due to their potent antioxidant activity³².

Lysine amino acid present in Moringa can produce natural antibodies and strengthen our immune system¹³, as Lysine is present in leukocytes and in protective proteins, which are essential for immune response³³.

Fights bacterial diseases

Research shows that moringa oleifera (MO) has very strong antimicrobial property³¹.

Traditionally, MO used to treat common cold, fever, and improve sexually transmitted infections like syphilis.

• Moringa is effective to a large extent against both fungal and viral infections including herpes and HIV³⁴.
• aureus, V. cholerae, and E. coli are the bacteria susceptible to Moringa³⁵.
• 4-(a-L-rhamnopyranosyloxy) benzyl glucosinolates and its cognate isothiocyanate, present in the MO have a wide range of anti-microbial effect.
• pylori are one of the common bacteria affect human gastric cells and causes a gastric ulcer.

According to the pilot study, H.pylori has sensitivity against isothiocyanate³⁴.

Weight management

You can clearly say that whilst Moringa can help you maintain your muscles mass due the excellent protein content¹³ it also helps you to achieve muscle definition and kill two birds with one stone etc.

The presence of all these important essential nutrients makes Moringa leaves an ideal dietary supplement.

Moringa is a great filler and acts as a natural appetite suppressant.

This property of hunger suppression makes Moringa most powerful slimming agents, increasing metabolism.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

The abundant source of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients provides a perfect balanced diet through triggering natural energy production without resulting in any dangerous side effects like other slimming pills and slimming agents³⁶.

Moringa is a slimming agent but significantly helps to improve your energy level.

Healthier bones

Reduction of bone density with increasing age is a major common problem.

Especially, women face such issues after menopause.

Supplying essential nutrients to an adequate level can help to prevent continuous bone loss deterioration.

Moringa is packed with bone-healthy nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and phosphorus helps to keep the bone density intact.

A randomised placebo-controlled human trial was conducted in 2015 to evaluate the bone-health benefits of Moringa with 1000 mg dose³⁷.

Moringa is very useful to prevent osteoporosis.

Moringa fruits and flower have a positive effect on osteoblastic cells and help in bone tissue formation, increase collagen and bone mineral content.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

Therefore, Moringa supplementation helps to maintain and improve healthy bone structure to any age group³⁸.

Improves vision

Nowadays, poor vision is not an age-related problem!

Even kids are seen using a thick pair of glasses.

One of the major cause of poor eye-sight is a deficiency of vitamin A.

Fast foods, ready meals food habits and sedentary lifestyle can change our taste buds.

We also eat less leafy vegetables and colorful fruits, which makes our vitamin A intake to dramatically drop.

Moringa superfood is a solution for this problem due to an abundant source of vitamin A present in its leaves, pods, which prevent poor vision and night blindness.

If you have a higher risk to develop a cataract, then taking Moringa leaf preparation can delay its development³⁹.

Anti-Diabetic

Are you diabetic and searching for some foods or natural therapy to control your blood glucose level?

Moringa herbal supplement is the right alternative choice for you.

• According to the research experts, the combination of polyphenols compounds (rutin, quercetin-3-glycoside, kaempferol) with glycosides in Moringa provides an anti-diabetic effect⁴⁰.
• A research showed that Moringa could reverse some of the damage of islet cells, from where insulin releases⁴⁰.
• Moringa helps better utilisation of glucose by skeletal muscle.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

This is possible as Quercetin present in Moringa stimulates glucose transporter proteins (GLUT4) activity in  skeletal muscle and thus increases glucose uptake by skeletal muscle^{40, 41}.

It also increases insulin secretion by preventing pancreating cell damage.

• Moringa reduces blood sugar level.

The phenolics and flavonoids phytochemicals present in Moringa helps to reduce oxidative damage in pancreatic tissue and also increases glucose tolerance.

In addition, antidiabetic treatment of Moringa can inhibit alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes⁴¹ and thus delay the metabolism of carbohydrates in the small intestine and reduce  the postprandial blood sugar level⁴².

Helps in lowering cholesterol

Hypercholesteremia or increase in blood cholesterol level is one of the primary cause for cardiovascular disorder⁴³.

Moringa is a single solution for multiple health issues, including blood cholesterol-lowering benefit.

• Beta-sitosterol, a bioactive constituent present in this herb inhibits the cholesterol synthesis inside the body¹⁷.
• Apart from this, the presence of lysine, methionine, and tryptophan amino acids in Moringa enhance lecithin production in the body and helps to lower the blood cholesterol level⁴⁴.

In a research study, Moringa supplementation had given to the study participants along with a high-fat diet.

The result showed a significant reduction of the high-fat-diet-induced enhancement of cholesterol levels in serum, liver, and kidney⁴⁵.

Enhances hair and skin health

Beauty is a substantial factor that depends upon the individual’s appearance, but can significantly influence self-confidence.

Few of the cosmetic effects of Moringa as discussed below can enhance and help to persevere your beauty for long.

• Sufficient protein is important to provide nourishment to the skin and rejuvenate the dermatological cells.

Moringa leaves contain all chains of essential amino acids, including:

• Threonine,
• Valine,
• Methionine,
• Leucine,
• Isoleucine,
• Phenylalanine,
• Histidine,
• Lysine and
• Arginine^13, which are helpful for skin nourishment as well as for new skin development⁴⁶.
• Skin vitality is achieved by supplying a sufficient amount of sulfur, the beauty mineral.

Sufficient amount of sulfur in Moringa is a key ingredient of skin collagen and keratin synthesis.

Collagen and Keratin are essential for softness and firmness⁴⁷.

The abundant supply of anti-oxidants by Moringa supplementation prevents skin aging and the development of wrinkles⁴⁸.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

Sufficient amounts of:

• Vitamin A,
• B6,
• Biotin,
• C and
• E

Along with different beneficial minerals like:

• Zinc,
• Iron,
• Calcium,
• Copper,
• Potassium,
• Magnesium,
• Manganese,
• Selenium is helpful to prevent hair fall, split hair, dandruff, and other hair related problems.

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences published an article in 2014 reported the hair growth activity of Moringa is non-inferior to minoxidil⁴⁹.

• Moringa, not only prevents the cell damage but promotes the cellular regeneration process.

Zeatin and Healthy Ageing

Zeatin is an active constituent present in Moringa and has premature aging prevention capacity.

Moringa is the only plant source, which supplies an abundant amount of Zeatin.

Sufficient amounts of zeatin enhances skin capacity to resist biochemical alteration that occurs with increasing age and it also prevents skin damage due to UV ray exposure⁴⁸.

Anti-depressant properties

We expect more from life and sometimes we run behind their desires.

Anxiety and depression is becoming a common mental problem, and life is not always easy.

Sometimes it is hard to deal with increased stress and sometimes it is difficult to deal with life failure.

In many cases like these anti-depressants are routinely described.

But,

Anti-depressant drugs often have many side effects and some people avoid continuing therapy.

However, this study shows that the combination of Moringa with anti-depressant drugs gives better treatment outcomes⁵⁰.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!

Moringa might lower the daily dose of synthetic medications and treatment duration.

Reduces fatigue

Our day to day work pressure and stress often results in physical and/or mental fatigue and creates a hurdle for continuing daily activities.

There is always a constant search among people for a nutritional supplement which can give a boost to evacuate physical or mental exhaustion.

The consideration of Moringa as a superfood is not a yarn, but it acts as a source of energy to fight against chronic fatigue condition.

An animal research study reported that Moringa leaf supplementation could:

• Delay the lactate and urea nitrogen accumulation in the blood,
• Improve body fat utilization,
• Reduce stored glycogen depletion.

Thus, Moringa helps to maintain energy levels and reduce fatigue⁵¹.

Menstruating females often have fatigue compliant due to iron deficiency⁵².

Dark green colored Moringa is packed with high iron content (1.3 mg iron in 100gm Moringa leaves)¹³ and can prevent iron deficiencies.

Anti-cancer

Medical developments provided advanced treatment against cancer, but the negative side effects are significant.

Tumour formation is the initial stage of cancer.

Uncontrolled and unwanted malignant cell growth within the tumour, can spread throughout the body like fire.

Moringa, the potent antioxidant source is a natural solution as a chemo-preventive tool thus, it provides some cancer protection benefits.

Progressive free radicals accumulation is one of the primary causes of cancer development and cancer is a multifactorial disease.

Multiple antioxidant-rich phytochemicals like myrecytin, quercetin, kaempferol and Phenolic acids present in Moringa acts against cancer^{39, 46}.

Anti-tumor properties of Moringa leaf extract is a potent inhibitor of lymphoblastoid (Burkitt’s lymphoma) cells and to some extent it prevents cancer development³⁴.

Not only this, animal research studies proved that Moringa enhances glutathione, a potent antioxidant and provides anti-tumor activity²².

Continuous research studies also revealed that Moringa induces apoptosis (the cell death) on ovarian cancer cells, and the ability to inhibit NF-kappaB15.

Another research conducted on Moringa against skin papillomagenesis showed significant reduction of papillomas and tumor multiplicity⁵³.

Aphrodisiac

Aphrodisiac is an agent which has the potential to increase sexual desire.

Due to their stressful life males are often affected by sexual dysfunction.

The leaf of Moringa has an inhibitory effect against 6-β-hydroxylation of testosterone and may enhance sexual potency.

Moringa can decrease stress levels by acting on the dopaminergic neuron.

Moringa leaf improves testosterone synthesis with the enhancement of blood flow⁵⁴.

Altogether these activities improve:

• Penile erection,
• Regulate sperm maturation and
• Spermatogenesis⁵⁴.

How to choose the right Moringa for you?

Moringa supplement is already marketed for easy access.

But I will give you some very useful tips, which will help you select right Moringa products.

Select the right species

There are 13 different varieties of Moringa cultivated in a different region of its native places but they are not equal.

Moringa oleifera is the most widely studied species among them.

Most of the above-mentioned health benefits have checked with this species.

Select winter crop

Both summer and winter season are suitable for Moringa cultivation.

But winter crop has a more antioxidant property and the calcium content.

Therefore, ask your vendor to give you winter Moringa products⁵⁵.

Moringa leaf is best than stem and stalk containing products

• Moringa leaf contains higher antioxidant properties than stem and stalk (leaf > stem > stalk).
• It has studied that methanolic extract of Moringa leaf better for scavenging free radicals as it contains maximum antioxidants-superoxide dismutase proteins in it⁵⁵.

Combination with Spirulina

Moringa leaf powder with spirulina with 7:3 ratio gives optimum health benefits⁴¹.

Spirulina is a type of algae and considered as the most balanced nutritional substance.

High in protein, low fat, and low cholesterol nutrients along with a combination of bioactive compounds like phycocyanin, and γ-linolenic acid, vitamins, minerals and trace elements present in spirulina are very useful for humans.

Combinations of Moringa and spirulina formulation can provide you with a more comprehensive and balanced proportion of nutrients⁵⁶.

Click here for a FREE CONSULTATION with Jazz today!