horseradish tree

Moringa Oleifera is the scientific name of malunggay

My mother planted a few malunggay trees in our yard. I grew up with it. But I must admit I took for granted  its great medicinal value until now. You see I have a problem with my bowel movement since I was young. Then, there was a time I sorted to drinking tea to solve the problem. For a while I was content until I noticed it was affecting my ulcers, and so I stopped. I am working in the city so I very seldom include malunggay in my meals. Again, when my mother lived with us here in the city I get to eat malunggay  and noticed it helped my digestion and bowel movement. I am so amazed because it was all so natural so I decided to do a research on its medicinal values and here is what I found:

• The young malunggay leaves is the one being boiled and drink as tea to increase breastmilk. Malunggay is now available in drug store and online store in tea and capsule form .

  malunggay leaves are excellent sources of vitamins A, B, C, D, E, amino acids, cystiene and minerals such as calcium, phosphorous, iron and magnesium. Nutritionists claims that gram for gram, malunggay has seven times the vitamin C found in oranges, four times the vitamin A found in carrots, four times the calcium and two times the protein found in milk and three times the potassium found in banana.    It is called a “miracle vegetable.”  

• The seeds of malunggay contain 40 percent oil, which is considered excellent massage oil because it has good anti-oxidant properties and shelf life ranging from four to five years., can treat arthritis, rheumatism, gout, cramp, sexually transmitted diseases, boils, and urinary problems. It is also used as relaxant for epilepsy.  
•   The leaves are good for curing headache, bleeding from a shallow cut, and can be used as anti-inflammatory, or cure for gastric ulcers and diarrhea.

• It helps in strengthening the immune system, control blood pressure, restores skin condition, relieves headache and migraine, reduces inflammation and arthritis pains, manage the sugar level thereby preventing diabetes, restrict growth of tumors and heal ulcers.

• More importantly, malunggay has the ability to purify water. “The crushed moringa seeds can clear very turbid water,” said Dr. John Sutherland, of Leicester University’s Department of Environmental Technology. He added that powdered malunggay seeds are appropriate for water purification in rural areas of tropical countries like the Philippines.
•  Planting malunggay trees would also help stabilize soil and contribute to fight against deforestation.