My son, Gavin, has been labelled asthmatic by his paediatrician when we came back for follow-up a week after he was out of the hospital for Bronchopneumonia. We have been a regular on his clinic from then on.
He put him on every regimen his medical nutty brain could ever think of. He prescribed Clenbuterol and Citirizine (an anti-asthma and antihistamine respectively) as a starter. It did not work, so we have to visit him, yet again. He placed him on anti-asthma therapy after another but to no avail. He is, as always, recurrently ill. It came to a point when he has to be on Metered Dose Inhalers (MDI’s) and higher generation of antihistamines. Unfortunately, the asthma attacks were back after four frigging days of being well.
I was sick of it, all those barmy medical experiments to treat my son’s illness. However, I don’t know what else to do. I, as a disciple of medicine, forced myself to believe that he will restore to health sooner or later. I waited in vain. Nothing.
In desperation, I welcomed every non-medical practice there is to treat asthma. One morning, mom suggested we give him Malunggay (Moringa in English). So we extracted the juice of the leaf put some honey and citrus and gave it orally to Gavin, drop by drop, about 10 to 15 cc twice that day. After 24 hours, I noticed the improvement. Coughs weren’t as frequent anymore. We gave him another 20 to 30 cc in two divided doses and voila! After the third day, coughs are gone and he is gaining weight more rapidly than he ever gained the past months. This miraculous veggie is, beyond doubt, God given.
I was curious how this tiny leaves healed my son’s asthma. I searched about it in the net and Google gave me these answers:
Leaves and pods of Moringa oleifera can be an extremely valuable source of nutrition for people of all ages. For a child aged 1-3, a 100 gram serving of fresh leaves would provide all his daily requirements of calcium, about 75% of his iron and half his protein needs, as well as important supplies of potassium, B complex vitamins, copper and all the essential amino acids. As little as 20 grams of fresh leaves would provide a child with all the vitamins A and C he needs.
For pregnant and breast-feeding women, Moringa leaves and pods can do much to preserve the mother's health and pass on strength to the fetus or nursing child. One portion of leaves could provide a woman with over a third of her daily need of calcium and give her important quantities of iron, protein, copper, sulfur and B vitamins. Just 20 grams of fresh leaves will satisfy all her daily requirement of vitamin C. For both infants and mothers, pods can be an important source of fiber, potassium, copper, iron, choline, vitamin C and all the essential amino acids.
Malnourished children can benefit from addition of Moringa leaves to their diet. The high concentrations of iron, protein, copper, various vitamins and essential amino acids present in Moringa leaves make them a virtually ideal nutritional supplement.
Moringa leaves can be dried and made into a powder by rubbing them over a sieve. Drying should be done indoors and the leaf powder stored in an opaque, well-sealed plastic container since sunlight will destroy vitamin A. It is estimated that only 20-40% of vitamin A content will be retained if leaves are dried under direct sunlight, but that 50-70% will be retained if leaves are dried in the shade. 9 This powder can be used in place of fresh leaves to make leaf sauces, or a few spoonfuls of the powder can be added to other sauces just before serving. Addition of small amounts of leaf powder will have no discernible effect on the taste of a sauce. In this way, Moringa leaves will be readily available to improve nutritional intake on a daily basis. One rounded soup (table) spoon of leaf powder will satisfy about 14% of the protein, 40% of the calcium, 23% of the iron and nearly all the vitamin A needs for a child aged one to three. Six rounded spoonfuls of leaf powder will satisfy nearly all of a woman's daily iron and calcium needs during times of pregnancy and breast-feeding.
If one rounded tablespoon of powder is added to an infant's food, three times daily, the 25g of leaf powder will give him roughly the following in terms of RDA:
• Protein: 42%
• Calcium: 125%
• Magnesium: 61%
• Potassium: 41%
• Iron: 71%
• Vitamin A: 272%
• Vitamin C: 22%
During periods of pregnancy and breast-feeding, women are most at risk of suffering from nutritional deficiences. If a woman consumed six rounded tablespoons of leaf powder per day during these times, she would receive roughly the following in terms of RDA:
• Protein: 21%
• Calcium: 84%
• Magnesium: 54%
• Potassium: 22%
• Iron: 94%
• Vitamin A: 143%
• Vitamin C: 9%
Source: http://www.echotech.org/technical/technotes/Moringa.PDF
One hundred grams or 1 cup of cooked malunggay leaves contain 3.1 g. protein, 0.6 g. fiber, 96 mg calcium, 29 mg phosphorus, 1.7 mg iron, 2,820 mg ß-carotene, 0.07 mg thiamin, 0.14 mg riboflavin, 1.1 mg niacin, and 53 mg ascorbic acid or vitamin C. The antioxidant activity of malunggay is about 71%, with µ-tocopherol (vitamin E) equivalent of 45.
Malunggay leaves are an excellent source of vitamin A and B, and minerals such as calcium and iron. It is even an excellent source of protein, being higher than the amino acid pattern of Food and Agriculture Organization-reference protein, yet contains very low fat and carbohydrates. The leaves are incomparable as a source of the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine, often the natural minerals human lack.
Due to its high vitamins A, C, and E, which are very potent antioxidants, malunggay is a very good quencher of unstable free radicals that can react with and damage molecules that cause aging. Antioxidants reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. They also prevent the onset of various chronic diseases like arthritis, cancer, and heart and kidney diseases.
Malunggay contains the phytochemical niaziminin, which is found to have molecular components that can prevent the development of cancer cells (Faizi et al., 1992) and correlated with inhibitory ability against superoxide generation. The first naturally-occuring thiocarbamates, novel hypotensive agent niazinin A, niazinin B, niazimicin and niaziminin A and B were isolated from malunggay.
Malunggay is called “miracle vegetable” because it is not just a food, it is also a medicine. It may therefore be a “functional food”. Malunggay promotes good eyesight, digestion, facilitates bowel movement, and is a cure for stomach ache.
It is also used to cleanse wounds and ulcers. It helps alleviate scurvy, asthma, earache, and headaches. For its high calcium content, lactating mothers are advised to eat malunggay leaves to produce more milk.
The leaves taste like spinach (Contains three times the iron of spinach. Also, a Moringa dried leaf has over ten times more nutrients than a fresh Moringa leaf, confirmed by universities and independent research laboratory analyses.), and its fruit produces a vegetable, like asparagus. Both contain Vitamin C (seven times more than found in oranges) and other minerals. Sajina contains seven times the amount of Vitamin C found in oranges, four times as much calcium as milk (A substitute for whole milk powder.) and three times the potassium of bananas. Moringa has quadruple amount of beta Carotene found in carrots, which is good for eyesight, and effective against treating cancer
Also, University laboratories around the world have shown Moringa ability to purify water. The process by which, it attaches itself to harmful material and bacteria. Afterwards, waste is expelled. Doctors use it to treat diabetes in West Africa and high blood pressure in India. Other known health benefits include: Strengthening immune system, blood pressure controlled, reducing arthritis pains and inflammations, restricting the growth of tumors, managing diabetes sugar level, and treating headaches and migraines. Malunggay contains the phytochemical niaziminn, found to have molecular components that can prevent the development of cancer cells. The edible parts of Malunggay (leaves, pods, and flowers) are served with meals or converted to a powder, used as a food supplement.
You see, it heals. And I’m a believer!