Moringa – A Critical Consideration

Moringa oleifera is the name of the horseradish tree originally from northern India. Moringa trees are considered to be the most nutritious plants on earth and are now also widespread in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Even in small amounts, Moringa is said to be a superfood. Does the green powder keep what it promises? Read our critical review.

Moringa oleifera: tree of immortality

The Moringa or horseradish tree (Moringa oleifera) belongs to the nut family (Moringaceae) and originally comes from the Himalayan region of north-west India. The name horseradish tree derives from its content of mustard oil glycosides, which cause its roots to smell similar to horseradish and the leaves have a spicy aftertaste. So it happened that English colonial rulers used edible roots as a substitute for horseradish for a long time.

In the meantime, the Moringa tree has spread worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, but especially in countries in Africa, Arabia, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean islands. Since almost all parts of the tree are edible or otherwise usable and the leaves also have a high nutrient density, Moringa bears the honorary name “miracle tree”.

Moringa is not only an important food source in many countries, but is also used for medicinal purposes. According to Indian folk beliefs, the Moringa tree can cure more than 300 diseases. Since it is considered to be particularly drought-resistant and grows even under the most adverse soil conditions, it is also called the “tree of immortality”.

The Moringa tree and its special abilities

Characteristic of the Moringa tree is its short, swollen trunk and its long, drooping bean pods that look like drumsticks. Hence the name “Drumstick Tree”.

A distinctive feature of the tree is its rapid growth. It can grow between 3 and 5 meters per year and reach a height of 20 meters. Responsible for this is the growth hormone and antioxidant zeatin, which is found in large quantities in the Moringa tree and allows it to grow unusually fast.

In humans, zeatin is said to accelerate skin regeneration enormously, slow down the aging process and increase the bioavailability of Moringa vital substances. While many other foods only contain traces of zeatin, moringa is said to have many times the usual zeatin values.

Moringa seeds for the treatment of drinking water

The seeds of the Moringa tree have a very special ability. The powder obtained from this can bind suspended matter and bacteria in the water and is therefore used to treat drinking water.

If you just think about the benefits of clean drinking water for people in some third-world countries, it becomes clear how important moringa trees are in these regions! The great wealth of nutrients and vital substances in moringa leaves also helps to combat malnutrition – even if people only consume two tablespoons of moringa powder daily (10 – 25 g).

Moringa powder helps with malnutrition

In June 1997, the organization “Church World Service” (CWS) together with the development aid organization AGADA (Agir Autrement pour le Développement en Afrique) started a project that dealt with the correct use of Moringa leaves to combat malnutrition and malnutrition in south-west Senegal.

Women and children in particular received moringa powder every day. Pregnant women have also been encouraged to take the powder regularly and continue to do so while breastfeeding.

After a longer observation period, the doctors found that the general health of the malnourished children and women had improved significantly. In addition, taking the powder resulted in a weight-increasing effect and was thus able to successfully support the fight against malnutrition and malnutrition.

It was also observed that the women who had taken Moringa recovered better and faster from anemia (low blood count) after childbirth and their children were born with higher birth weights. Moringa powder also promoted milk production in breastfeeding women.

Is Moringa Powder Better Than Other Superfoods?

Moringa is also on everyone’s lips as a superfood in Europe! Moringa is often referred to as the most nutritious plant in the world. 90 nutrients should unite in the plant. It is said to be exceptionally rich in proteins, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

If you believe the manufacturers, the powder far outshines other, more familiar food and dietary supplements in terms of nutrient content. Among other things, it should

• a calcium content 17 times higher than milk,
• 4 times higher beta-carotene content than carrots,
• 15 times more potassium than bananas,
• an iron content 25 times higher than spinach and
• contain 7 times more vitamin C than oranges.

That sounds fantastic. However, is it true?

No, it is not! Because you compare the nutritional values ​​of moringa powder, i.e. the dried and powdered moringa leaves, with the nutritional values ​​of fresh food. If you were to compare moringa powder with the milk powder, spinach powder, carrot powder, banana powder, etc., as it would be correct, you would get something completely different.

The Truth About Moringa

So what about the nutritional values ​​of Moringa?

Calcium in Moringa

Moringa powder provides approx. 2,000 mg of calcium per 100 grams, i.e. only 1.5 to 2 times as much calcium as milk, if one assumes – as it would be correct – from the calcium content in the dry matter of the milk and the moringa powder with the values ​​of would compare powdered milk. Of course, calcium that high for a leafy vegetable is still very good, just not quite as fantastic as some people lead you to believe.

Apart from that, you take at most 10 to 20 grams of Moringa powder per day and thus 200 to 400 mg of calcium, while milk fans with a yogurt (250 ml) and 30 grams of Emmentaler would already be at almost 600 mg of calcium.

This is not to say that dairy products are a healthy source of calcium, it is just intended to make people aware that moringa milk cannot really outshine it when it comes to calcium and that a daily dose of moringa powder does not contain as many nutrients and vital substances as you might think based on the circulating information could believe.

Beta Carotene/Vitamin A in Moringa

The body can produce vitamin A from beta-carotene – the vitamin that is so good for vision and also keeps the mucous membranes healthy. What food comes to your mind when you hear the word beta carotene? carrots of course. They contain so much beta-carotene that the organism can produce 1,700 micrograms of vitamin A from 100 grams of carrots, which would more than cover the daily vitamin A requirement and which means that carrots are at the top of all domestic beta-carotene suppliers.

Moringa is said to deliver four times the amount of beta carotene. That would now correspond to 6,800 micrograms of vitamin A – and indeed, exactly this amount is contained in the fresh Moringa leaves. However, these are not available in Europe. Moringa powder, however, only contains an average of 3,600 micrograms of vitamin A – which is just over twice the amount found in fresh carrots.

But you can quickly eat 100, 200, or even 300 grams of carrots as a vegetable or salad and therefore ultimately get much more beta-carotene and vitamin A with carrots than with moringa powder. Because the daily dose of Moringa (10 g) only provides 360 micrograms of vitamin A.

So to get the beta-carotene amount of e.g. B. to get 200 grams of carrots, you would have to eat almost 100 grams of moringa powder daily. But that would be quite expensive since 100 grams of moringa powder costs between 15 and 22 euros – apart from the sharp taste.

However, have you noticed? We compared fresh carrots to moringa powder. How much vitamin A do you think is in carrot powder? 16,000 micrograms per 100 grams.

If you were to take 10 grams of it, you would benefit from 1,600 micrograms of vitamin A – four times more vitamin A than there is in the same amount of moringa powder.

Potassium in Moringa

Bananas containing 15 times the amount of potassium seem completely out of the question. Because fresh bananas provide 380 mg of potassium per 100 grams of banana. Fresh moringa leaves only about 260 mg. Moringa powder contains 1,300 mg of potassium. However, dried bananas or banana powder – and this is the only way to compare moringa powder – contain 1,480 mg of potassium and therefore more than moringa powder.

Furthermore, a leafy vegetable (Moringa) should not be compared to fruit, but to another leafy vegetable – and spinach powder, for example, provides a whopping 5,500 mg of potassium per 100 g. Let’s also look at the iron content in moringa and that spinach.

Iron in Moringa

Moringa is said to provide 3 to 25 times as much iron as spinach. Let’s start with the freshness comparison: the fresh moringa leaf contains just 0.85 mg of iron. Fresh spinach but over 4 mg. Here the comparison is at best the other way around.

If you compare the 4 mg of iron from fresh spinach with the values ​​of dried moringa powder, the spinach naturally looks old – and that’s exactly how the game works. Moringa powder is said to contain around 28 mg of iron per 100 grams. But not even now one can speak of “25 times higher iron content than spinach”.

But if you now take the iron value of spinach powder, things look completely different again: spinach powder contains about 35 mg of iron and is therefore significantly higher than moringa powder.

The question is also why is moringa powder not compared to chlorella powder, wheat, or barley grass powder. Maybe not because it would then show that there is hardly any difference here. Or worse, Moringa could be surpassed again. Barley grass powder is said to contain 35 mg iron per 100 grams, wheat grass powder up to 70 mg, and chlorella a whopping 210 mg iron – all three of which are also cheaper than moringa.

Vitamin C in Moringa

The only thing missing is the vitamin C comparison. Oranges provide 30 to 50 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams. The fresh moringa leaves 220 mg. This applies to some extent to the above statement (7 times more vitamin C than oranges).

Since there are still no fresh moringa leaves in this country, only the nutritional value of the moringa powder counts for us – and this only provides 17 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams, which is very modest, especially since you only consume about 10 g of moringa powder a day. A daily portion of moringa powder provides 1.7 mg of vitamin C. In view of the vitamin C daily requirement of at least 120 mg, this value is almost irrelevant.

To cover or improve the vitamin C supply, fresh fruit and some vegetables such as e.g. B. broccoli (115 mg vitamin C) are much better suited or – if it has to be a powder – acerola powder. 10 grams of acerola powder already provide 1000 mg of vitamin C – 590 times the amount of vitamin C in moringa powder.

The correction of Moringa nutritional values

So Moringa contains

• twice as much calcium as milk,
• a quarter of the amount of beta-carotene in carrots,
• almost as much potassium as bananas, but only a quarter of the potassium of spinach,
• 80 percent of the iron content of spinach and 15 percent of the iron content of chlorella as well
• half as much vitamin C as oranges and 0.17 percent of the vitamin C amount of acerola powder.

Moringa is a superfood, but not THE superfood

The way Moringa is advertised is consequently extremely incorrect and confusing. Of course, as a relatively original leafy vegetable, moringa still has extremely good nutritional values ​​and can, therefore, of course, be used as a dietary supplement to optimize the balance of vital substances.

But in our latitudes – with the large selection of superfoods – it does not seem to be alone and abandoned at the top of the dietary supplements since there are others – such as e.g. B. the microalgae, grass powder, spinach powder, broccoli powder or the powdered wild plants (dandelions, nettles, etc.) – which also have very good values.

Vitamin E – 2nd place for Moringa

The really high vitamin E values ​​are particularly interesting here. Normally, vitamin E is found in relevant amounts in high-fat foods, e.g. B. in nuts, oilseeds, and oils. In these foods, the highly effective antioxidant vitamin E protects the fats from spoilage. Moringa powder, however, only contains 2 grams of fat. Why then these high vitamin E levels?

There doesn’t seem to be an explanation for this yet. However, precisely because of the large amounts of vitamin E, in the home countries of moringa, high-fat foods or dishes are prepared with moringa leaves, which greatly increases the shelf life of these foods.

But it is also interesting that advertising texts always state the highest vitamin E value ever measured in Moringa, namely 113 mg. However, analyses show that values ​​between 40 and a maximum of 85 mg of vitamin E per 100 grams are more realistic – depending on the time of harvest (older leaves contain more vitamin E than young leaves).

But even that is a lot for a leafy vegetable. These normally only contain between 2 and 4 mg of vitamin E. Oils, on the other hand, contain between 4 and 50 mg of vitamin E per 100 grams. Sources.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant and protects every single cell or its membrane from oxidative damage. In this way, vitamin E keeps you young and agile and is also considered a fertility vitamin, as it has a positive effect on the health and performance of the ovaries and testicles.

Vitamin B2 – Moringa is the winner

There is similar good news for vitamin B2. Moringa is also a very good source for this. Most foods provide well under 1mg of B2 per 100g. Only the liver has more than 3 mg per 100 g – but who eats the liver every day? Moringa powder already provides a proud 2 mg of vitamin B2 with a daily portion of 10 g and is therefore a real winner here.

It is usually said that there is no B2 deficiency in our latitudes. But how many people suffer from skin problems, nail changes, or torn corners of the mouth from time to time? A B2 deficiency can be the cause here. And how many people feel stressed? Vitamin B2 protects and regenerates the nerves, making them more resistant to stress. It is therefore worth keeping the vitamin B level in the body high. Moringa can help with this – even at 10 g per day!

Moringa powder as a protein source?

Moringa powder contains around 25 grams of protein and is therefore often praised as an excellent source of protein. Only: With 10 grams of Moringa you get just 2.5 grams of protein, which is not really much with a protein requirement of approx. 1 g/kg body weight. Only when you consume 25 grams of moringa powder daily does the protein content become noticeable.

In addition, the allegedly extremely good biological value of Moringa protein is often praised. But comparisons with whey protein are of no use – as seen on the Internet – when one writes that 47 percent of all amino acids contained in moringa are essential amino acids and 21 percent of all moringa amino acids belong to the branched-chain amino acids (which are said to be particularly useful for muscle building ).

For comparison, 45 percent of the essential amino acids and 23 percent of the branched-chain amino acids are given for the whey protein, i.e. very similar values.

But what uses is the pure proportion of these amino acids if you don’t take care of the ratio of the individual amino acids to each other? But exactly THAT is responsible for a biological value. And compared to the biological value of rice protein or lupine protein, moringa protein doesn’t do quite as well.

Nevertheless, the moringa protein – like the proteins of many other vegetables – is of course a very valuable protein. Only here the type of promotion is questionable and seems to serve more to promote sales than to provide actual information.

However, since you do not live from Moringa protein alone, but also eat legumes, oilseeds, and cereals, Moringa protein can be a wonderful supplement here.

Moringa – the conclusion

A daily portion of Moringa (10 g) brings you the following benefits:

• Moringa can noticeably support your calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin A, and vitamin B1 supply, but does not provide enough of these vital substances to cover the daily requirement, so it can only supplement a healthy diet in this regard. If there is a specific deficiency or if one of these vital substances is to be used therapeutically, (additional) other food supplements must be integrated. Because compared to
• Moringa (200 mg calcium daily dose), the Sango sea coral, for example, provides 540 mg calcium. And if you have an iron deficiency, e.g. B. Chlorella can also be used.
• Moringa can optimize your vitamin B2 and vitamin E supply very well, so even if there were a deficiency here, taking 20 g of Moringa per day would be ideal in this case (increase the amount slowly).
• Depending on the amount taken, Moringa can also make a small contribution to the protein supply.
• Moringa is rich in antioxidants and cancer-inhibiting mustard oil glycosides and can therefore also be regarded as a remedy that can be taken alongside many therapies.

However, keep in mind that the nutritional values ​​of Moringa – as is usual with any plant and natural food – can differ depending on the place of origin, batch, etc. We, therefore, recommend that you take a close look at the ingredients list from the manufacturer you have chosen before you decide to buy. The nutritional differences are sometimes significant, so comparisons are very worthwhile.

Buy Moringa

In Europe, Moringa is available as a food (in dried leaf powder form) and as a natural food supplement (in capsule or pellet form). Fresh moringa leaves are now also available, e.g. B. in some online shops, where the origin is not always specified (sometimes the leaves come from Dutch greenhouse plants) and the leaves are not always available – mostly only during the summer months. Depending on the shipping time, the sheets may not arrive as fresh when you receive them, but you can find this out from the information (about the delivery times) from the sender.

Since seeds are available, you could try growing Moringa plants yourself, e.g. B. if you have a conservatory or a correspondingly highly heated greenhouse. Because Moringa is a tropical tree that wants to grow 20 meters high.

Therefore, consider whether you can offer the plants the ideal growth conditions or whether the trees will suffer in the long term and will die sooner or later. You probably wouldn’t want to keep a walnut tree on the windowsill either, because this plant wouldn’t do well there either.

The use of Moringa

The leaf powder is obtained from the dried Moringa leaves and used as a diverse food additive. Among other things, it is used in shakes, green smoothies, patties, stews, or curries. The powder can also be dissolved in a glass of juice or water. It should not be used for cooking, otherwise, there is a risk of nutrient loss – although cooking is recommended elsewhere to increase the bioavailability of some polyphenols.

So you could simply eat 10 g of Moringa daily as raw food and add more Moringa portions to cooked dishes – if you want.

Open moringa powder is a food that has no prescribed dosage limits. However, since the leaf powder has a rather intense and slightly sharp (horseradish-like) taste of its own, you should not use too much of it at once. The mustard oil glycosides can also lead to diarrhea if you are not used to them. So start with small amounts!

For a rough guide, about 1-2 teaspoons (about 5 – 10 g) can be integrated into the daily menu throughout the day. As a general rule, the savory a dish, the more moringa powder can be added without altering the flavor of the food. Intake amounts of up to 25 g daily are also common.

In order to keep the loss of nutrients low and to protect against bacteria, you should not store the moringa powder in a water-, air- and light-tight container for longer than 6 months.

Recipes with Moringa

Moringa can be mixed into many recipes. Below is a small selection:

Moringa soy dip

For 2 people

Ingredients:

• 500 g natural soy yogurt
• 1-2 teaspoons moringa powder
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and white pepper
• 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bunch of chives

Preparation:

First, let the natural soy yogurt drain over a container in a straining cloth/strainer. Then mix with lemon juice and moringa powder (depending on your taste). Add salt and various peppers. Peel and press the garlic. Wash the chives and dab them dry, chop very small and fold them into the natural soy yogurt. If you like, you can also cut fresh radishes into small pieces instead of garlic and add them. Goes well with boiled potatoes.

Moringa smoothie:

For 1 person

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp Moringa leaf powder
• 150 grams of pineapple
• 1 banana
• ¼ – ½ liter orange juice freshly squeezed
• some maple syrup, banana powder, or coconut blossom sugar – if desired – to sweeten

Preparation:

Cut the pineapple and the banana into small pieces and put them in a blender together with the moringa powder and the orange juice. Mix everything well for about 30 seconds and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The smoothie tastes best ice cold. The refreshing vitamin bomb is ready!

Avocado spread with Moringa

For 2 people

Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe avocados
• a few drops of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon moringa powder
• a pinch of salt and some pepper
• fresh herbs

Remove the stone and skin from the avocados. Then mash the avocado finely with a fork and mix all the ingredients together. Season to taste with salt and pepper and refine with fresh herbs if necessary. Tastes great on freshly baked spelled rolls or raw food crackers!

Enjoy your meal!