Moringa

Moringa oleifera is a slender, quick-growing tree up to about 10 metres with feathery pale-green leaves and sprays of fragrant white flowers. The fruit is a long, ridged, three-sided pod, often 20 to 50 centimetres long, called a drumstick. Inside are round, dark seeds about the size of a pea, each with three papery white wings. The kernels have a bitter, slightly pungent taste. Seeds are sold fresh in pods, dried and shelled, as seed powder and as cold-pressed oil, a clear, pale yellow, stable oil often called ben or behen oil.

Moringa oleifera is native to the foothills of the Himalayas in north-western India, and it has been cultivated for thousands of years in the Indian subcontinent. It is now widely grown across tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas. The genus name Moringa is thought to derive from the Tamil word murungai, meaning twisted pod, while oleifera is Latin for oil bearing, a reference to the seeds. The name drumstick tree comes from the long shape of the pods.

Moringa has long been used in India, where the pods are a vegetable in sambar and curries, and parts of the tree feature in Ayurvedic medicine. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans are said to have used ben oil, pressed from moringa seeds, as a perfume base and for cooking, because it resists turning rancid. The oil was valuable to makers of ointments, and in later centuries was used by watchmakers as a lubricant.

The tree spread widely in the tropics, and in the late twentieth century development organisations promoted it as a nutritious, drought-tolerant food source for areas with food insecurity, particularly its leaves. Powdered seeds have also been studied and used by rural communities in countries such as Sudan, Malawi and India to settle suspended particles in cloudy water before drinking, as they contain proteins that bind with impurities, though this should not be assumed to make water safe without further treatment. Today moringa leaf powder is a popular global health product, while seeds and oil are sold in smaller volumes.

Young seed pods are cooked as a vegetable in South Asian curries and soups, and immature seeds are eaten like peas. Mature seeds may be roasted or eaten sparingly, and are pressed for ben oil, used in cooking, cosmetics, hair and skin care and as a base in perfumery. Crushed seed cake is used as a natural flocculant to clarify water. Leaves are eaten as greens and dried into powder. In traditional medicine, various parts of the tree are used for inflammation, digestion and general nourishment, though this is not clinically proven.

Moringa seeds contain protein, oil rich in oleic acid and phytochemicals such as glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, which are studied in the laboratory for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Most human evidence relates to the leaves, and trials in blood sugar and cholesterol are small and inconsistent. Seeds are not well studied as a regular food. Enthusiasm for moringa as a superfood exceeds the current clinical evidence, and it should be seen as a nutritious plant food rather than a treatment.