Rusty asked if I could write something about health, and Queenie wanted to know about Malunggay, so I thought I would keep 2 people happy by 
writing one topic.
My background is health, I’m actually a Clinical Nurse. Although I’ve worked in many areas such as medical/ surgical, aged care and community nursing, I have been working in Psychiatry for 9 years. I don’t profess to be an expert in health. My aim for this site is to share knowledge. I believe I can learn from you and I hope you can learn from me. If I claim that such and such is good for an ailment, I always make sure that I can support this claim with documented evidence, what we call in the medical field as “Evidence Based-Practice”, which can be derived from either clinical trials (most common) or research studies.
Now for the Malunggay, botanical name Moringa Oleifera, Horseradish Tree (so-named because its roots are sometimes shredded much like Horseradish), or Drumstick Tree, so named because its fruits, looked like drumstick tree. Incidentally, when I checked my own malunggay tree this morning, the fruits resembled snakebeans. Maybe because they are only very young. This is the first time my tree had borne fruits. The Malunggay grows prolifically in parts of Africa, most of India and everywhere in Southeast Asia. It is essentially a tropical plant, but do grow in temperate climates. The place I live in Australia doesn’t get snow, but it does get really c-c-o-l-d!! Temps are sometimes -5 degrees in winter. I just covered them and they have survived so far.
The whole of the Malunggay tree can actually be used. But in the Phil. the most commonly used parts are the leaves and fruits. One of my friends once cooked the Malunggay fruit in a pinakbet dish, that was the first time I’ve eaten it and it was very delicious. The leaves are a significant source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, protein, iron and potassium, phenolic acid and anti-oxidants (that’s just a few of them! In Tamil Nadu and Kerala, every part is used for Ayuverdic/Siddha medicine. The seeds of the drumstick fruit is used for sexual virility and to prolong sexual activity.
In areas where Moringa is cultivated, various parts of the tree is used for fever, to combat certain bacterial infections and has been used for treating several digestive disorders. For a complete list of what Malunggay is good for, look up http://www.icuc-iwmi.org/files/Publications/Moringa Oleifera.
Aside from listing the benefits of Malunggay, this site provided an analysis of earlier scientific studies on Malunggay. And the result is indeed promising. Another site is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17089328.
PubMed is a web-based interface to MEDLINE, the pre-eminent health sciences database of journal articles. PubMed covers 4800 journals in all levels and disciplines of the health sciences.
Tagged with: Christine • Health
Filed under: Health
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Get
To The Philippines Faster
Nice article Christine. Thanks! I look forward to more as you can get to it.
If anyone else has something they think they might be able to offer let me know!
Interesting article Christine. I knew that kamungay was good for you, but I didn’t know so much that was known about it. Years ago when I was a US peace corps volunteer in Cebu, I spent a lot of time with the local mid-wives at deliveries. The first food always served to the new mothers’ after giving birth was chicken in broth with malunggay and that’s when I learned about how rich a vegetable it was. It’s really my favorited vegetable in the philippines now, and it can be cooked in so many soup and vegetable dishes.
In the province, for some reason people are always asking neighbors for cuttings from kamungay trees for their meals, even though it’s pretty easy to grow. My mother-in-law used to get tired of people asking, so she finally starting handing out root cuttings and telling people to go plant their own!
Christine, I hope that you contribute often to Rusty’s site–I think you’ve got a lot of interesting things to say.
I have a book on herbal medicine. I keep it as reference because some of my patients mix mainstrain western medicines with herbal stuff. I like to keep tab of what they actually take because sometimes herbal medications can potentiate the effects of their western medicine, necessitating reduction in dosages. When I found out that many of what we eat in the Phil. as fruits and vegetables have been used as medicines in other societies, I started to get really interested. Malunggay and Ampalaya are only a few. And to think these vegetables are easily obtained in PI cheaply, you can even grow your own. I don’t blame your mother-in-law. Malunggay is very easy to grow in PI.
Many of us don’t have a plot of land to grow it on! So many places are completely concrete. Mine is. :)
Yes, I tend to forget that many Phil houses have no land, and gardens/yards are considered a luxury. I tend to forget because where I live, the minimum size of block you can build is 500m2 which means you can still have a front and back garden. My house sits on 1 1/2 acres, so I try to grow my own Filipino vegetables in summer.
I don’t know if or when you are planning to move to Bantayan but if you eventually do move over there, make sure you have a place for gardening.
Regardless of the size, gardening in tropics can be fun.
I presume that rent is cheaper on Bantayan as well.
Less crime too.
I saw some beach from property for sale but it was really expensive. Not planning on moving any time soon. I would like to by three times the property I need and then sale 1/3 and use that to build a house on but that’s not gong to happen any time soon, if ever. Dreaming, I probably wont live long enough to realize it but I’m going to live as if I will and I’m workingn on the goal.
We all have dreams.
When I discovered the (idylic side of) tropics in 1980, I didn’t know that it was to become the major life experience of mine.
That experience will most likely last until I die. Once it gets inside of you, it is very hard, if not impossible to get rid of it.
I even wrote a book during that experience.
http://www.tropichouse.net/
Remember Rusty : the separation between dreamers and the actual doers is drawn by the finest of lines since most of us first start by dreaming.
Robert, I can safely say that there have been two periods in my life where I had no dreams. One of them was so sad, it feels like I’m talking about someone else and kind of want to cry for them. From time to time I get back in touch with the feelings during those days and it is good to remember them. I was so far gone emotionally that only a rebirth into someone else could save me and it did. A born again experience saved me from that time. A very very dark time. No there were no more dreams then.
The second time, I’d have them and then refuse to let myself contemplate much on theme, no point, I wont be around long enough to make them happen. That was five years ago and was told I had five years left. Well, I started dreaming again and living as if I will always be here and have all the fun I can and dream and plan because we don’t really know. And started working on improving my lifestyle.
When I moved to the Philippines, I made a conscious decision to rebirth myself again. Dare to shed some of the things that hold me back, we all have those things. I have tried more new foods in the last year than in the prior 40 years. :) I have dreams again.
A doer is something I’ve always been. When at work, more than once, people from the national office would come down to review the projects I was on and comment on how I would try to g et he people that were responsible at the highest levels to do something but if they didn’t do it, I would do it for them. Later when those higher ups decided it was a good idea, I would turn the project over to them. :)
I’m making my life in the Philippines already. My Xwife said that once I set my mind to something, it will happen. I agree, it may take me a year or two but some people can’t reach the goal immediately they just give up. I don’t do that. I have a long wish list recorded in my brain.
A wfe or girlfriend has become frustrated with me when I buy something for myself when they wanted something. They don’t understand that I’ve already been waiting for five years. Now I’ve not seen this behavoir in Jessie, she considers herself spoiled.
I’ll put things on my list for them too. For example, right now I’m dreaming about a $2000 camera. I’ll have no guilt in indulging myself with that camera. I can’t get it now, so I’ll get it when I can. I will get it.
Weight loss, been told by doctors it may not be realistically possible to get it off. It would have to become an obsession which has its own medical issues. I don’t gve up though. I don’t try to eat perfect, I do try to exercise through my pain. I’m walking 2 miles a day several days a week at a brisk past. People talk about how fast I walk. I turned it into pleasure, I take pictures while dong it. That slows down some of the aerobic benefit but not all of it.
I am a planner more than a dreamer. I’m also very introspective. I look and search out my flaws and they can be very hard to see. Sometimes we cannot see them at all, without the help of others.
Hi Rob, I will be only visiting Bantayan when we return to PI. I don’t know anyone there. The best I can hope for is 1/2 year in PI and 1/2 year in Oz when I retire because of family here. Besides I don’t know anyone in Bantayan. My ancestors come from a barrio 30 mins. drive from Bogo, so that’s where I’ll be staying. And they do have clean unspoilt beaches. Tourists haven’t discovered them yet-so don’t tell!
Even the tourist that have discovered Bantayan, haven’t discovered all of them. :) I found some hidden away ones and I know of other islands that are pretty much untouched! I also know of caves that Filipino know about. It is good, very good to get to know the locals!
Good.
Your Blog is having a very good content and language, which is really admirable.