Moringa oleifera, or the horseradish tree, is a pan-tropical species that is known by such regional names as benzolive, drumstick tree, kelor, marango, mlonge, mulangay, nebeday, saijhan, and sajna. Over the past two decades, many reports have appeared in mainstream scientific journals describing its nutritional and medicinal properties. Its utility as a non-food product has also been extensively described, but will not be discussed herein, (e.g. lumber, charcoal, fencing, water clarification, lubricating oil). As with many reports of the nutritional or medicinal value of a natural product, there are an alarming number of purveyors of “healthful” food who are now promoting M. oleifera as a panacea. While much of this recent enthusiasm indeed appears to be justified, it is critical to separate rigorous scientific evidence from anecdote. Those who charge a premium for products containing Moringa spp. must be held to a high standard. Those who promote the cultivation and use of Moringa spp. in regions where hope is in short supply must be provided with the best available evidence, so as not to raise false hopes and to encourage the most fruitful use of scarce research capital. It is the purpose of this series of brief reviews to: (a) critically evaluate the published scientific evidence on M. oleifera, (b) highlight claims from the traditional and tribal medicinal lore and from non-peer reviewed sources that would benefit from further, rigorous scientific evaluation, and (c) suggest directions for future clinical research that could be carried out by local investigators in developing regions.

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Moringa oleifera: A Review of the Medical Evidence for Its Nutritional, Therapeutic, and Prophylactic Properties. Part 1.

Review on some plants of Indian traditional medicine with antioxidant activity.

The plants of the genus Phyllanthus (Euphorbiaceae) are widely distributed in most tropical and subtropical countries, and have long been used in folk medicine to treat kidney and urinary bladder disturbances, intestinal infections, diabetes, and hepatitis B. In recent years, the interest in the plants has increased considerably. Substantial progress on their chemistal and pharmacological properties, as well as a few clinical studies of some Phyllanthus species have been made. This review discusses the current knowledge of their chemistry, the in vitro and in vivo pharmacological, biochemical, and clinical studies carried out on the extracts, and the main active constituents isolated from different species of plants of the genus Phyllanthus. These studies carried out with the extracts and purified compounds from these plants support most of their reported uses in folk medicine as an antiviral, in the treatment of genitourinary disorders, and as antinociceptive agents. However, well-controlled, double-binding clinical trials are lacking. Several compounds including alkaloids, flavonoids, lignans, phenols, and terpenes were isolated from these plants and some of them interact with most key enzymes. Together this data strongly supports the view that the plants belonging to the genus Phyllanthus have potential beneficial therapeutic actions in the management of hepatitis B, nefrolitiase, and in painful disorders.

A review of the plants of the genus Phyllanthus: their chemistry, pharmacology, and therapeutic potential.

The evaluation of the radioprotective effect of Triphala (an ayurvedic rejuvenating drug) in the mice exposed to γ-radiation

The suitability of including Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) as a feed ingredient in cassava (CC) based broiler diets was evaluated. Seven isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets represented as treatment s 1 (maize meal based-control), 2, 3, 4 (20% CC and 0, 5, 10% MOLM) and 5, 6, 7 (30% CC and 0, 5, 10% MOLM) were fed to 378 broiler chicks for 49 days in a completely randomized design. Parameters measured were weight, weight gains, final weight and feed consumed. Feed conversion ratio and feed cost per kilogram weight gain were calculated. Haematological parameters were also obtained after the 49 day trial. A reduction in performance was observed with increasing inclusion level of MOLM beyond 5%. Birds on treatment 3 (20% CC, 5% MOLM) did not differ significantly (p>0.05) in terms of weight gain (2263.62-2428.26 gm), feed conversion ratio (2.57-2.81), final body weight at 8 weeks (2342.09-2501.24 gm) and feed cost per kilogram weight gain (979.38-1075.78 TSH) from those on the control, 20 and 30% diets (treatments 1, 2, 5). The highest feed consumption (6390.7gm) was recorded among birds on treatment 3 but did not significantly differ (p>0.05) from those on treatments 1, 2, 6 and 7(6002.7-6346.9 gm). It was concluded that broilers could be safely fed cassava based diets containing MOLM at a maximum level of 5% without deleterious effects.

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Effect of Moringa (Moringa oleifera) inclusion in cassava based diets fed to broiler chickens.

Augmentation of murine natural killer cell and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity activities by Phyllanthus emblica, a new immunomodulator.

Modulatory potency of drum stick lectin on the host defense system

Kinetics of NK cell activity during tumor development in a mouse model

Adoptive immunotherapy using human recombinant interleukin-2 activated specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes

Peripheral blood T lymphocytes from 15 patients with gastric carcinoma and 6 normal healthy controls were evaluated for Interleukin-2 R gene expression. Total RNA was extracted from T cell-enriched fractions of patients as well as from control peripheral blood lymphocytes, with or without mitogenic stimulation. The presence of mRNA for IL-2 R alpha evaluated by Northern blot analysis revealed that unstimulated T cells expressed lower levels of IL-2 R mRNA than PHA stimulated T cells. Expression of both IL-2 R alpha transcripts (3.5 and 1.5 Kb) were either not detectable or only weakly detectable on T lymphocytes from patients even after mitogenic stimulation. In contrast, a significant rise in the expression of both IL-2 R alpha transcripts was observed on T cells from normal controls followed by mitogenic challenge. This paper reports on the defective IL-2 R alpha gene expression in gastric carcinoma patients, which may explain one of the causes of immunodeficiency associated with neoplastic transformati...

K Suresh

Papers

Augmentation of murine natural killer cell and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity activities by Phyllanthus emblica, a new immunomodulator.

Modulatory potency of drum stick lectin on the host defense system

Kinetics of NK cell activity during tumor development in a mouse model

Adoptive immunotherapy using human recombinant interleukin-2 activated specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes

Defective interleukin-2 R gene expression in gastric carcinoma patients.