Moringa Oleifera Case Study

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World population does not compromise on health issues. Basically perfect health is one of the primary needs of human being and he wants health, wealth and prosperity at a time without any disastrous effect especially on health. Nature fulfills all the vital requirements of human being either in healthy or diseased condition but just need to explore it in time. Moringa oleifera is one of the precious gift of nature to man. It is the member of family Moringaceae, commonly known as ‘sahajan’, Horse radish (portray of its root taste) or drumstick tree (illustrating shape of pods). In Senegal, it is commonly known as "Nebeday" most probably meaning is "never die" because it has ability to survive even in a prolonged period of scanty rainfall (drought) condition and can grow from seed or cutting as well as it has power to rejuvenate itself. It is also called "Miracle tree" or "wonder tree"(Fuglie, 2001). In the Philippines it is most commonly called as “mother's best friend" and "malunggay" because mothers give its cooked leaves to their babies for nutritional purpose(Price and L, 1985). It is mostly present in tropics but native of the western and sub-Himalayan tracts of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Asia Minor, Africa and India (Kumar et al., 2010, Makkar and Becker, 1997). It has valuable medicinal and nutritional value and important member of nature’s pharmacy. Ancient king and queen used Moringa oleifera in their diet for mental alertness and healthy skin since 150B.C (Mahmood et al., 2010). It is present in the list of neutraceuticals(Karim and Azlan, 2012). Its young leaves, pods, flower as well as roots are edible mostly in Asia(Ferreira et al., 2008).
TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom;Plantae, Sub kingdom; Tracheobion...

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...ings. Approximately a pod has 12-35 seeds and 15000-25000 seeds are formed by tree in a year(Foidl et al., 2001, Radovich, 2011).
NUTRITIONAL VALUE
Malnutrition is basic problem in infants and nursing mothers. Moringa oleifera has acquired a significant place in different tropics to combat malnutrition and it has been given a specific name “natural nutrition for the tropics” by three private organizations ;Trees for Life, Church World Service and Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, because in tropics most of the time in a year there is drought and a no of trees lose their nutritional contents but Moringa oleifera has ability to tolerate droughtness so people use it for food purpose mostly in dry season(Fahey, 2005).

Analysis of Moringa pods, fresh (raw) leaves and dried leaf powder has shown them to contain the following per 100 grams of edible portion.

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