By: kriz

kriz — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:48:41 +0000

datoy marungay ti kaimasan nga ammok nga vegetable…miss ko nga talaga dagita nga gulay…also diay pallang ken katuday…..ay sus apo naimas dagita…thanks for posting this malungay….miss kong nga talaga……hello to my friend there in lapog like….richard agbayani..dita LTO laoag city

By: Lani

Lani — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:13:12 +0000

Seems like there’s a bright commercial future for malunggay. Interestingly, I’ve heard of a barangay in Cabugao where there is an area called “malunggay boulevard” because of rows of malunggay along the road, where people, I bet, can freely get their supply. And speaking of herbal medicines, sambong (blumea balsamifera) is also now manufactured by the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) of the Department of Health and marketed as a diuretic and anti-urolithiasis. We are blessed indeed, we only need to have the technology to harness and maximize the use of these for our benefit.

By: arlene u. prudenciado

arlene u. prudenciado — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:35:40 +0000

Hi Lani,
You are right. Things are changing and the lowly malunggay has caught the attention of the developed countries as a good source of nutraceuticals. Having been in the field of patents (protecting new inventions) for some years now, I have read in many articles and patent specifications that malunggay is one plant with many uses: in cosmetics (moringa oil, extracted from seeds and leaves), for oral hygiene, herbal synergistic formulation for improving, rejuvenating and regulating the immune system, treatment of vascular headaches, neurological disorders & neurogenerative disease. Extract from the fruit pods of malunggay was also found to have a bioenhancement activity when combined with antibiotics, antifungals and other drugs and nutrients. In treating polluted waters, extracts were also found to be very good and earth friendly clarifying/coagulation agents. Most of these inventions relating to moringa however, were results of R&D in India and some countries in the west which have looked to the east and Africa for traditional medicines. There was a time, several years ago in the Philippines, that diabetics took the pods of the malunggay as supplements to control their sugar levels. In short, we knew back then that there is indeed therapeutic effect in malunggay. But our R&D institutions did not take further steps beyond the current technology we have with the malunggay tablets or capsule: 1) dry the pods or leaves, 2) grind into powder form , and 3) make them available in tablet or capsule form. Due to lack of clinical tests , these tablets can not be claimed or advertised to have therapeutic effects. Likewise, one would not know how many tablets to take for such to be effective. They are, therefore advertised only as food supplements. This is how the nutraceutical industry in the Philippines works. For now, only ascof ( for cough) or lagundi has been successfully marketed to have medicinal effect. India, also known to be very rich in traditional medicine, took the road we did not take and came up with many interesting inventions on moringa or malunggay: in one invention, some Indian scientists have 1) identified that protein part of the moringa which is found to be effective in the treatment of obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disorder, among others, 2) isolated that protein from its natural source, the moringa plant and 3) used the isolated protein to produce a pharmaceutical product to treat the above conditions. This means that once the product becomes available, you will be able to buy and take in the correct dosage of a “moringa” tablet comprising only of the effective amount of the active agent (the protein) instead of the tableted or encapsulated powdered pods that we have at present. If the inventions become commercially successful, the country may benefit as a supplier of the raw material. I remember that pilot-inventor-farmer I met in one of my trips to Davao in 2005. Instead of having his more than one-hectare lot lying idle, he had it planted with the low maintenance malunggay. He sold some of his produce in the market, he and his family consumed some, the extra, he gave away for free. Back then, he said that he hoped to export malunggay in the future. Now that’s what I call vision. Let’s follow this guy. Let’s start planting malunggay not only for our daily dose of “dinengdeng” but also for other and future uses that technology may uncover.

Comments on: Malunggay – beyond the dining table

By: kriz

By: Lani

By: arlene u. prudenciado