Herbal Plants: Malunggay (Horse Radish)

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Homemade Malunggay Capsule

Malunggay or Horse radish (Moringa oleifera) is a popular plant because of its nutritional and health benefits and considered as “The Miracle Tree”. This plant grows in tropical countries and used mainly as vegetable in cooking.

Malunggay Leaves

Malunggay Fruit

Health Benefits

Malunggay helps in fighting malnutrition particularly in infants and breastfeeding mothers due to its nutritional contents. It is known to help increase milk flow of breastfeeding mothers. Furthermore, it is proven to contain vitamins like A (4 times as carrots), B and C (7 times as orange), and minerals such as calcium (twice as milk), iron and protein (4 tiems as milk). It is also found to contain high dosage of HDL (high-density-lipoprotein), a good source of  omega oils, antioxidants and amino acids.

Some studies showed that this plant contains anti-cancer properties and considered in the treatment of prostate and skin cancer. It is also found to have chemoprotective properties that strengthen cells and helps tolerate the effect of chemotherapy.

This miracle plant was also found to have antibiotic (antimicrobial and antibacterial) and antifungal properties while the seed was found to contain anti-inflammatory functions against rheumatism, arthritis and joint pains.

Supplements

It is awkward to eat malunggay daily just to get the benefits of the plant. There are many malunggay supplements available in the market but a little bit expensive.  I resulted to make my own malunggay supplement. I dried malunggay leaves (air dry), grind using bender, sieve thru strainer to remove stalks,  and encapsulate it in an empty gel capsule bought from Mercury Drug (42 cents a piece). Each capsule contains 250mg of pure dried malunggay leaves, enough to be a daily supplement.

I also used ground malunggay leaves in some of my cooking.

Dried Malnuggay Leaves

After Grinding and Sieving

Empty Gel Capsule