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Posted by Lani on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I always thought that our local vegetables are not getting the credit they deserve for their contribution to health, since not many find their way into the news or documents about health foods touted for their nutritional value. That’s probably because most of the studies are done in western societies where our local vegetables are uncommon, or not popular, at least among researchers. Well, things are changing.
We, who have grown up with the malunggay (marunggi to us, Ilocanos) in our backyards, eating its leaves and fruit in our dinengdeng, are familiar with its value in folk medicine as beneficial for nursing mothers because it promotes lactation. Now, this local vegetable is gaining global prominence as a health food. Patty Donovan calls it a “miracle tree” and a “nutritional dynamite” because of the many uses of its pods, roots, leaves, bark and flowers. She writes:
“Gram for gram, Moringa leaves contain: SEVEN times the vitamin C in oranges, FOUR times the Calcium in milk, FOUR times the vitamin A in carrots, TWO times the protein in milk and THREE times the Potassium in bananas.”
Marunggi or Moringa Oleifera has finally found its way into laboratory studies, particularly the effect of root-wood extract on calcium oxalate urolithiasis (I think that has something to do with kidney stones, or is it gallstones? Any MDs out there?) Another peer-reviewed article presents a long list of medicinal uses, including as antibacterial, anti-tumor, immune-stimulant and many more.
Filipinos, too, are taking notice of the malunggay’s value beyond the dining table. In nearby San Ildefonso, the innovative mayor encouraged local ice cream (sorbetes) makers to use malunggay in their recipe. Thus far, they have successfully concocted a malunggay-flavored ice-cream. Curious, we went to buy some of this novelty ice-cream flavor. To our dismay, it was out of stock and we were told the next batch of supply would only be available in the afternoon. Business is that brisk, huh. I suspect all the supply was brought to Vigan for the Viva Vigan Festival. So, tomorrow, I’m off to look for that malunggay ice-cream. Wait until the next post. 
Hi Lani,
You are right. Things are changing and the lowly malunggay has caught the attention of the developed countries as a good source of nutraceuticals.
Having been in the field of patents (protecting new inventions) for some years now, I have read in many articles and patent specifications that malunggay is one plant with many uses: in cosmetics(moringa oil, extracted from seeds and leaves), for oral hygiene, herbal synergistic formulation for improving, rejuvinating and regulating the immune system, treatment of vascular headaches, neurological disorders & neurogenerative disease. Extract from the fruit pods of malunggay was also found to have a bioenhancement activity when combined with antibiotics, antifungals and other drugs and nutrients.
In treating polluted waters, extracts were also found to be very good and earth friendly clarifying/coagulation agents.
Most of these inventions relating to moringa however, were results of R&D in India and some countries in the west which have looked to the east and africa for traditional medicines.
There was a time, several years ago in the Philippines, that diabetics took the pods of the malunggay as supplements to control their sugar levels. In short, we knew back then that there is indeed therapeutic effect in malunggay. But our R&D institutions did not take further steps beyond the current technology we have with the malunggay atblets or capsule: 1) dry the pods or leaves, 2) grind into powder form , and 3) make them available in tablet or casule form. Due to lack of clinical tests , these tablets can not be claimed or advertised to have therapeutic effects. Likewise, one would not know how many tablets to take for such to be effective. They are, therefore advertised only as food supplements. This is how the nutraceutical industry in the Philippines works. For now, only ascof ( for cough) or lagundi has been successfully marketed to have medicinal effect.
India, also known to be very rich in traditional medicine, took the road we did not take and came up with many interesting inventions on moringa or malunggay: in one invention, some Indian scientists have 1) identified that protein part of the moringa which is found to be effective in the treatment of obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disorder, among others, 2) isolated that protein from its natural source, the moringa plant and 3) used the isolated protein to produce a pharmaceutical product to treat the above conditions. This means that once the product becomes available, you will be able to buy and take in the correct dosage of a “moringa” tablet comprising only of the effective amount of the active agent (the protein) instead of the tabletted or encasulated powdered pods that we have at present.
If the inventions become commercially successful, the country may benefit as a supplier of the raw material. I remember that pilot-inventor-farmer I met in one of my trips to Davao in 2005. Instead of having his more than one-hectare lot lying idle, he had it planted with the low maintenance malunggay. He sold some of his produce in the market, he and his family consumed some, the extra, he gave away for free. Back then, he said that he hoped to export malunggay in the future. Now that’s what I call vision.
Let’s follow this guy. Let’s start planting malunggay not only for our daily dose of “dinengdeng” but also for other and future uses that technology may uncover.
1 | arlene u. prudenciado May 2nd, 2008 at 2:35 pmSeems like there’s a bright commercial future for malunggay. Interestingly, I’ve heard of a barangay in Cabugao where there is an area called “malunggay boulevard” because of rows of malunggay along the road, where people, I bet, can freely get their supply. And speaking of herbal medicines, sambong (blumea balsamifera) is also now manufactured by the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) of the Department of Health and marketed as a diuretic and anti-urolithiasis. We are blessed indeed, we only need to have the technology to harness and maximize the use of these for our benefit.
2 | Lani May 2nd, 2008 at 4:13 pmdatoy marungay ti kaimasan nga ammok nga vegetable…miss ko nga talaga dagita nga gulay…also diay pallang ken katuday…..ay sus apo naimas dagita…thanks for posting this malungay….miss kong nga talaga……
hello to my friend there in lapog like….richard agbayani..dita LTO laoag city….
krizz
3 | kriz May 4th, 2008 at 7:18 amUK