Moringa oleifera is commonly known as drumstick, horseradish, benzolive, marango, mulangay and sajna. Belonging to the Moringaceae family, this tree is widely found in Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It grows well in tropical climates that are humid or dry with little rainfall.
The different parts of the Moringa oleifera tree such as the roots, leaves, stem bark, flowers and seed have been found to contain several important phytochemicals. All parts of this tree contain a large proportion of sugars such as rhamnose. Some researchers have also found a significant number of this and other sugars such as L-arabinose, -galactose, -mannose, -glucouronic acid and -galactose in an exudate obtained from the whole gum collected from the Moringa oleifera tree.
The tree also contains isothiocyanate and glucosinolate compounds, along with alkaloids called moringine and moringinine. The flowers of the tree are especially rich in amino acids, quercetin, isoquercitrin, kaempherol and kaempferitrin. The leaves of Moringa contain the vitamins A, B-complex and C, minerals such as calcium, copper, iron and phosphorus, and essential amino acids such as lysine, cytine, tryptophan and methionine.
The presence of amino acids, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins in Moringa oleifera make it a valuable dietary supplement. In fact, the Trees for Life organization states that Moringa leaves are superior to milk in calcium content, bananas in potassium content, carrots in vitamin A content, spinach in iron content and oranges in vitamin C content. People in countries such as India, Philippines, Pakistan, Hawaii and several parts of Africa use the Moringa plant parts in their daily diet for its high nutritive value.
Moringa features prominently in the indigenous systems of medicine in the South Asian countries. These cultures use the flowers, seeds, fruits and oil from the seeds for treating conditions such as infectious diseases, inflammation, and gastrointestinal, hematological, cardiovascular and hepatorenal disorders. The isothiocyanate and thiocarbamate components in Moringa confer antihypertensive properties. The presence of vitamin C, carotenoids and flavonoids also makes Moringa a valuable source of antioxidants.