Moringa Oleifera is a very common tree and can be found in most backyards in Indian homes. In Sanskrit, it is known as Sobhanjana and Munaga chettu in Telugu. Drumstick is the common name.
The fruits and the flowers are commonly cooked and eaten as a vegetable. However, Moringa leaves are not very popular as most of us think that these are not nutritive. In fact, these are storehouses of enormous nutritive wealth. Fresh juice of the leaves contains Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and almost all the essential amino acids. A fascinating fact is that a glassful of drumstick leaves soup supplies as much protein as one gets by eating 100 grams of chicken or two-and-half cups of milk.
MEDICINAL USES
• Preparing drumstick soup is very easy. Immerse a handful of tender leaves in boiling water for five minutes and cover the vessel with a lid. After boiling this, keep the vessel up to the brim in cold water so as to cool the soup quickly. You can add a pinch of salt, pepper, lime juice, etc. for taste and additional benefits. Drink this every morning. This will take care of your malnutrition, anemia, tuberculosis, asthma, seasonal attacks of cold and bronchitis, premature ageing, nervousness, functional sterility, etc.
• In case of cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, colitis, jaundice, etc., Moringa leaves are very effective. Take a teaspoonful of fresh Moringa leaf juice, mix with honey and a glassful of tender coconut water. Take this herbal medicine two to three times a day.
• Drumstick leaves are a good substitute for fancy and costly tonics. If you have a young child, then here is an effective tonic for him—take a cupful of the fresh juice of the leaves and heat it gently in a water bath until the liquid coagulates. Filter the clear fluid and mix it with milk. Give it once a day. This aids healthy growth with strong bones and provides resistance against infections and malnutrition.
• If you are an expectant mother, its regular use during pregnancy and lactation helps to get extra calcium, iron, vitamins at no cost. It acts on the uterine contracting mechanism, prevents sluggishness of the uterus, eases childbirth, reduces severe blood loss and postpartum complications. In addition, its regular use increases the quantity of breast milk.
• For scanty urination, constant burning in the urethra due to high acidity of urine, myxoedema, toxaemia of pregnancy, dropsy due to heart, liver, kidney disorders, hypertension, excessive thirst, diabetes, constipation, etc., fresh leaf juice warmed in a water bath can be taken along with the fresh juice of cucumber or carrot.
• Fresh juice, if taken with honey every night before going to bed, would be highly beneficial in curing night blindness, weak memory, poor hearing, etc. Not only this, vertigo, bleeding piles, hiccups, biliousness, indigestion, morning sickness etc. can be controlled effectively by using fresh leaf juice mixed with lime juice.
• Bhaavaprakaasa, an Ayurvedic treatise, advocates instillation of a few drops of fresh juice in each nostril to cure syncope. Eye allergies also can be counteracted with the juice of Moringa. Relief from piles can be obtained by locally applying the leaf juice along with radish leaf juice.
• For treating scabies, rheumatism, sprains and contusions, simply mix the juice with sesame oil and heat it until the watery content evaporates. Use this preparation for external use. You can also use these leaves as a remedy for pimples, blackheads, etc. Apply the fresh juice mixed with lime juice.
• If you have a severe headache, try using a teaspoonful of the leaf juice mixed with three peppers. Apply this to the temples to get immediate relief.
• The bark of the tree and the roots are extensively used in Ayurveda for various ailments. Researchers confirmed that the amorphous base has a very strong sympathomimetic effect on the sympathetic nerve endings of the entire human nervous system. By its stimulating action, it constricts the blood vessels and elevates the blood pressure, thus accelerating the heartbeat. Its main action on the heart is due to the direct stimulation of the cardiac sympathetic nerves, but the myocardium may be slightly affected. Researchers have also observed that the amorphous base inhibits the tone and the movements of the involuntary muscles of the gastrointestinal tract and bronchioles.
• If the powder of the dry bark is boiled in a glass of water and two tablespoonfuls of this decoction are taken along with honey, regularly for 40 days, it would be highly beneficial in treating impotency, premature ejaculation, thinness of semen, scanty menstruation in young anemic girls, asthma, bronchitis with severe cough, scurvy, etc.
• Here is an interesting remedy for premature ejaculation—make a hole in the trunk of the moringa tree and insert a full betel nut. Close the hole with wheat flour paste. After two months, take out the nut and preserve it. A piece of it, if placed under the tongue during intercourse, prevents premature ejaculation. The absorption of lignoceric acid in the circulation is said to act on the time-mechanism of semen ejaculation.
• The bark, flowers, fruits, leaves, and even gum of the drumstick tree are very useful. Therefore, having a moringa tree in your backyard is like having your own doctor with you.