Moringa for Nutrients for Children & Nursing Mothers

Moringa for Children

Rapidly growing bodies need nutrients to aid in muscle and bone growth, brain development, mental clarity, healthy skin, hair, and nails, and to strengthen the immune system. Children deprived of nourishment during these intensive growth cycles may show lower IQ levels, speech and language difficulties, and slower motor skills. They can contract a number of chronic diseases and ailments, setting them up for poor health lifelong.

Yet children are fussy eaters, selecting sugared cereals, pop, and fatty dairy products, over vegetables, fruit, whole grains and lean meats. With Moringa, you can give your child a head start to a healthy life.

Pound for pound, Moringa contains:

• 3 times the iron than spinach
• 4 times the calcium found in milk
• 3 times the potassium of bananas
• 2 times the protein found in yogurt and almost the same amount of protein found in eggs
• 7 times the vitamin C of oranges

In addition, Moringa has magnesium, vitamin A, B Complex Vitamins (thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin), copper, manganese, and zinc!

Pregnant and Nursing Women

Pregnant and nursing women, and their babies, can benefit from Moringa, a single, natural, nutrient dense product, which contains the goodness of a whole food.

Moringa leaves contain high amounts of calcium and protein, more than milk and dairy products. They are lactose free and nut free, so those who are lactose intolerant or have nut allergies can consume them safely.

Moringa also has high levels of vitamin A, known to aid in the production of breast milk and increase the overall quality of milk secreted. In fact, studies have shown a 25% increase in milk production through the use of Moringa.  In addition, the milk contains a greater concentration of nutrients when compared to the breast milk of those not consuming Moringa leaf powder.

Our Moringa products are sourced from eco sustainable farms around the world, and must pass through stringent quality checks before they reach your table. They are grown in an environmentally responsible fashion and are the same products we feed to our own children.

So you know what is safe for you, is safe for baby too.

The World Health Organization recommends feeding malnourished infants and children Moringa on a daily basis.

PROCESSING MORINGA LEAVES

I received an email article about Moringa Processing in Ghana  using the Compatible Technology International Omega VI grinder. The grinder will process both Moringa leaves and roasted peanuts. In fact, mixing the two after grinding makes a wonderful tasting and highly nutritious combination.

While hand grinding is still widely used and it does produce a highly visual photograph it is slow, time and labor intensive and often produces an inconsistent powder.

 

In using the Omega grinder, studies indicate that by drying the leaves to less than 9% moisture (non-solar drying preferred), manually crushing them through a #6 mesh screen to remove large stem material, followed by one pass through the Omega VI, a fine Moringa leaf powder could be easily produced. The Omega grinder, including delivery, cost approximately $400.

The Omega VI grinder is one of the many products that CTI produces in response to small food processing needs in rural areas of developing countries. To view the rest of the CTI products go to the following

Jeffery Faus, a Trees for Life staff member, sent me the following email. Thought you might find the presentation interesting. Dr. Russ Bianchi is a medical and scientific formulator with a passion for Moringa.

Moringa tree presentation _ Dyck Arboretum of the Plains in Hesston will offer a program on “Discovering Medicinal Plants and Health Benefits: The Moringa Tree of India” on July 29 as a benefit for the arboretum. Merv and Shirley Schrag will host the program and provide samples of health products from the moringa tree. Ben Bowers and Russ Bianchi will talk about products they have developed from the tree. Krehbiel Meats will offer refreshments. The cost is $25. Proceeds will help complete the pathway around the arboretum that was removed because of recent construction of the new Prairie Pavilion. Donations are tax deductible. Register by July 25 by calling 620-327-8127.

Research Update – Moringa shows potential to relieve pain and inflammation

July 1, 2011 by Mike Felton

The following research abstract is a copy from Pubmed. The anti-inflammatory characteristics of Moringa have long been listed as one of its many benefits.  The following abstract documents that finding.

Title:

Purification of a Chitin-Binding Protein from Moringa oleifera Seeds with Potential to Relieve Pain and Inflammation.

Authors:

Pereira ML, de Oliveira HD, de Oliveira JT, Gifoni JM, de Oliveira Rocha R, de Oliveira Bezerra de Sousa D, Vasconcelos IM.

Source:

Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, 60440-990, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. imvasco@ufc.br.

Abstract:

Moringa oleifera Lam. is a perennial multipurpose tree that has been successfully used in folk medicine to cure several inflammatory processes. The aim of this study was to purify and characterize a chitin-binding protein from Moringa oleifera seeds, named Mo-CBP(4), and evaluate its antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects in vivo. The protein was purified by affinity chromatography on chitin followed by ion exchange chromatography. Acetic acid-induced abdominal constrictions assay was used for the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activity assessments. Mo-CBP(4) is a glycoprotein (2.9% neutral carbohydrate) composed of two protein subunits with apparent molecular masses of 28 and 18 kDa (9 kDa in the presence of reducing agent). The intraperitoneal injection of Mo-CBP(4) (3.5 and 10 mg/kg) into mice 60 min before acetic acid administration potently and significantly reduced the occurrence of abdominal writhing in a dose dependent manner by 44.7% and 100%, respectively. In addition, the oral administration of the protein (10 mg/kg) resulted in 18% and 52.8% reductions in abdominal writhing when given 30 and 60 min prior to acetic acid administration, respectively. Mo-CBP(4), when administered by intraperitoneal route, also caused a significant and dose-dependent inhibition of peritoneal capillary permeability induced by acid acetic and significantly inhibited leukocyte accumulation in the peritoneal cavity. In conclusion, this pioneering study describes that the chitin-binding protein Mo-CBP(4), from M. oleifera seeds, exhibits anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive properties and scientifically supports the use of this multipurpose tree in folk medicine.

PMID: 21675945 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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NICARAGUA SUPPORTS MORINGA

While Balbir Mathur, President of Trees for Life, was in Nicaragua recently to take part in the presentation of guitars to the libraries associated with the Books for Life – Nicaragua project he received an urgent request to meet with Mario Salvo, the Minister of Agriculture.

Nicaragua has become highly involved in promoting Moringa as a means of fighting malnutrition within the country. When Mr. Salvo learned of Balbir’s visit to Nicaragua as part of the Books for Life library project he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to have an in-depth discussion about Moringa with one of the tree’s leading proponents. Trees for Life  has been promoting Moringa  around the world for the past 25 years and has developed a large body of knowledge and information about the Moringa tree and its properties in treating malnutrition in developing countries

Moringa project promotes health

The health of a human being is based on nutritional rich consumables which help to build up body cells, boost the immune system and make the body strong, according to health experts. This then helps the body fight against diseases.

However, to compliment the government and other health institutions that provide health services in the country, a Bulawayo based peri- urban farmer and trees grower, Violin Marimo Dlodlo has started a moringa project with the aim of assisting the community and the nation by enriching people’s immune systems through nutrition found in the “miracle tree”.

In an interview with Newsday, Dlodlo said she started the project in 2007 after retiring from her formal employment with the National Railways of Zimbabwe.

Dlodlo said she learnt about moringa’s “miracles” from a friend, Mavis Mogasie Mathabatha in South Africa who told her how the tree performs miracles in people’s lives when their immune systems collapse.

Mathabatha had 1 500 moringa trees in her plantation at Tooseng in SA and is reported to have made strides in the Moringa business internationally.

“I currently grow moringa at my home in Montrose and some of the trees have grown very tall. The tree’s leaves have a lot of nutrients and can boost one’s immune system fast. After growing the tree, it takes only one year to be ready for harvesting. I harvest the leaves and the bucks which I grind into soft powder that one can put into meals or eat take them with nothing else,” she said.

Dlodlo said since she started her project she had assisted a lot of community members and rural people with deteriorating immune systems.

“I am not a herbalist but the passion to assist people with the nutritious rich powder from the tree’s leaves after I learnt about its miracles in SA made me start this project. So far a lot of people had their immune system boosted after consuming the powder.” said Dlodlo.

She said she inherited this passion for trees from her mother Gogo Marimo. She said though she sometimes sells “the miracle tree’s” produce to other people, members of the community, mostly those disadvantaged, were getting the powder for free from her.

“At some point I visit people in the community and find that their children’s immune system is down. I give them the moringa powder and after a short time the children will be strong. Even those who come to ask for the miracle tree’s powder I give them,” she said.

Dlodlo said scientific research has shown that the tree’s leaves are rich with vitamin A and C, Iron, potassium and proteins. In her terms she said the tree provides poor children with more vitamin C than oranges, more vitamin A than carrots, more iron than roast beef, more potassium than bananas, and more proteins than milk and eggs.

A Research by the South African Star newspaper in February this year showed that a tablespoon of moringa oleifera leaves powder provides 14% proteins, 40% calcium, 23% iron and most of the vitamin A that children at ages of one to three need much.

Six tablespoons of moringa provide all requirements of women’s daily iron and calcium needs during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Dlodlo said many people easily go ill because whatever they eat thinking was nutritious rich was in fact not much but moringa come as all nutrition in one.

“If you just put the powder in any food you are eating every component of nutrition you want you will have it added in your system,” she said.

Dlodlo said people lacked knowledge about the tree and she would assist her community in understanding that the tree may save their immune system from collapse.

She said even those who have HIV and Aids can regain their strength by adding nutrients in their body through moringa intake.

Dlodlo said she was running the project with her children and all the years since she started it she is show casing her harvest at the annual international trade fair.

She said she was facing challenges that include land shortage to run her project and had approached the council to ask for the land but was disappointed as the council would not entertain her.

She is appealing for land from government so that she becomes a big producer of the “miracle tree” so that she can become an exporter.

“Those I learnt this from are now big people who are role models in SA, Zambia and Malawi. I wish to be one day an exporter of the tree’s harvest.” said Dlodlo.