How This Helps
Known by Ayurvedic practitioners for centuries, moringa (Shigru, Horseradish Tree, Drumstick Tree, Moringa oleifera) is one of the most healthy and nourishing plants around Earth. Many nutritionists recommend it as a superfood but are unaware of moringa’s strong detoxifying properties. It’s important to use binders like taro root or arrowroot powder to ensure the complete elimination of toxins.
In many African nations, moringa trees are a solution to hunger. The moringa tree grows in India, Asia, and Africa, and they can easily be cultivated in the subtropical areas of the world.
Ancient Sanskrit texts explain moringa as astringent, bitter, pungent, light, and heat. They called it Shigru, which means “an arrow.” True to its name, moringa molecules travel quickly and penetrate deep into all the tissues of the body. Moringa outsmarts its competition by a mile:
– Forty-seven antioxidants
– Triple the potassium of a banana
– Twenty-five times more iron than spinach
– Seven times the vitamin C found in an orange
– Four times the calcium, twice the protein as whole milk
Many of moringa’s medicinal benefits are essential for diabetics. It helps lower blood sugar levels and may help support healthy blood pressure. It packs some of the essential vitamins & nutrients for diabetics. These essential vitamins include potassium, vitamin A, b6, b12, C, D, & E, zinc, riboflavin, and several others. It pulls toxins out of the body, strengthens the immune system, supports fat metabolism and weight loss.
What is moringa powder good for?
Herbal medicines are being used as alternative treatments for type 2 diabetes for a very long period. Moringa oleifera, often termed as a drum stick, is long known for its medicinal properties. The leaves, seeds, as well as fruits are known for their nutritional benefits. Moringa tree flowers, pods, and leaves have a variety of medicinal uses and serve many health benefits. The flower of the moringa tree is often used to treat inflammation. Likewise, the pods and seeds have liver-protective and antihypertensive properties. But the leaves have shown the most benefits of all – anti-microbial properties and hypoglycemic effects. The leaves of moringa have a high content of vitamins, antioxidants, and macronutrients and are used as a vegetable.
In the US, fresh moringa leaves or stalks are found in Asian and Indian grocery shops (mostly in spring and summer).
See: Ayurveda Treatments To Prevent And Reverse Diabetes Mellitus
Organic moringa leaf powder
Moringa active constituents and benefits
Bioactive Components in Moringa Oleifera Leaves Protect against Chronic Disease.[6].
Moringa oleifera (MO) or drumstick tree is a traditional herb widely used for their pharmacological actions and have shown to be beneficial in several chronic conditions, including hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, non-alcoholic liver disease, cancer, and in reducing overall inflammation. The most used parts of the Moringa oleifera are the leaves, which are rich in carotenoids, vitamins, polyphenols, flavonoids, phenolic acids, alkaloids, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, tannins, and saponins.
Moringa powder for Diabetes
Several studies have studied the benefits of moringa powder for diabetes.
1. The Antidiabetic Effect of Moringa Seeds on Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes and Diabetic Nephropathy in Male Rats.[1].
Diabetes type 2 is a chronic medical condition and a significant public health problem around the world. The pathogenesis behind type 2 diabetes involves insulin resistance where your body does not use insulin properly and may also be due to impairment of pancreatic insulin secretion.
2. Hypoglycemic effect of moringa oleifera.
Moringa oleifera and glycemic control: A review of current evidence and possible mechanisms.[5].
Several studies have postulated the anti-diabetic role of Moringa Oleifera leaf and seed extract. Isothiocyanates compounds found in MO leaves have been reported to reduce insulin resistance and hepatic gluconeogenesis. These hypoglycemic effects and antihyperglycemic activity of the leaves of MO might be due to the presence of terpenoids, that can help decrease the intestinal glucose uptake. Also, the high fiber content in the moringa leaves lowers the gastric emptying time as it is not digested by the body, which can help you feel fuller and satisfied and had an effect on postprandial plasma glucose. Thus it also regulates blood sugar levels and reduces the absorption of cholesterol.
The beneficial activities of MO leaves have been shown to prevent and restore the integrity and function of β-cells, increasing insulin activity, improving glucose uptake, and utilization. Phenolic compounds, like flavonoids and tannins present in moringa leaves, inhibit pancreatic α-amylase activities, which are a major pancreatic protein and starch hydrolase required for energy acquisition. Thus it helps decrease the reabsorption of glucose in the intestine. The three critical bioactive phytochemicals of moringa include quercetin, chlorogenic acid, and moringinine, a potent antioxidant. They showed anti-diabetic effects by decreasing glycemic response and improving glucose tolerance.
3. Hypotensive Effects
MO leaves contain several bioactive compounds, which have been used for stabilizing blood pressure, possibly through a calcium antagonist effect, which promotes dilation of the arteries and reduces blood pressure. A recent study also reported that MO reduced vascular oxidation, which results in a reduction of systolic blood pressure.
4. Anti-oxidative effects on pancreatic beta cells
Oxygen-free radicals may contribute to b-cell cytotoxicity that may lead to the development of complications in diabetes. Many studies have evaluated the anti-oxidative effects of moringa extracts that may be beneficial in preventing oxidative protein damage. This process is thought to be involved in b-cell damage in the diabetic condition.
Studies in moringa powder for diabetes
1. Effect of Moringa Leaf Capsules on Glycemic Control in Therapy-Naïve Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Study.[2].
Thirty-two T2DM patients were enrolled in a prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups, where one group received 8 grams per day of MO leaf capsules (MO leaf group), and the other group was administered a placebo for four weeks. 9-point plasma glucose and other clinical and laboratory characteristics were recorded at screening and at the end of the 4-week study.
The results showed no significant difference in FPG and HbA1C between groups. However, the control group taking Moringa oleifera leaf had shown a reduction in systolic blood pressure by five mmHg as compared to baseline, but this difference had no statistical significance. The study concluded that Moringa oleifera leaf had no effect on glycemic control, and no adverse effects were reported in T2DM patients.
2. Anti-diabetic property of drumstick or Moringa oleifera leaf tablets.[3].
One hundred type 2 diabetic patients were selected for the study. Among which, sixty subjects were chosen for further research. The chosen patients were on a sulfonylurea treatment and divided into control and experimental groups, each containing 30. They were given 30 tablets of Moringa oleifera and were asked to take two tablets daily. One tablet was to be taken after breakfast and the other after dinner for three months.
The outcome measures like postprandial blood glucose and Glycated hemoglobin were measured during the first, second, and third months of supplementation. The results indicated that drumstick leaves might be suitable to reduce diabetic complications in patients with type 2 diabetes.
How to use moringa powder?
After understanding the various potential benefits of moringa oleifera, one may be wondering about its consumption on how to take moringa and incorporate it into your daily diet to avail its maximum benefits. Moringa oleifera is considered to be a miracle tree as every part of it possess therapeutic value. Some of the tips on how to take moringa are mentioned below:
1. Moringa tablets or capsules– one can easily find moringa tablets or capsules at a pharmacy store. You just have to buy it and pop two pills a day with water to get its benefits.
2. Moringa leaf tea– If you can find the leaves of moringa oleifera, then a bunch of leaves boiled in hot water and consumed as a tea with little lemon can also be an excellent method to take moringa.
3. As a vegetable – Moringa is native to India, where the leaves and pods are used to make curry. Asian countries like Thailand also use moringa as a vegetable.
4. In soups and salads– Sprinkling moringa powder or moringa leaves into your soup can act as a taste enhancer while providing relief from diabetic symptoms. Dressing a salad with some moringa leaves and pods can provide a great taste to the palate.
Summary
Numerous preclinical trials have proved the efficacy of moringa in treating diabetes. However, there are minimal studies conducted on humans to understand the effectiveness of moringa leaves in controlling the blood sugar levels. Further research studies need to be carried out to understand the role of moringa powder in diabetes. The antioxidant effect of moringa leaves and its flavonoids component had shown an essential role in reducing blood glucose in diabetic patients. This lowering is due to an improvement in impaired glucose metabolism and a decrease in insulin resistance. The results observed in the present study were on par with the above studies.
