Dr. Monica Marcu is noted worldwide for her expertise on Moringa, as she has decades of experience in studying a variety of plants. Her study and research of Moringa is incorporated in her book Miracle Tree, a long-time favorite of Zija Independent Distributors. As a member of the Zija Product Advisory Council, she will be sharing her expertise and findings on Moringa. Below she shares information about the benefits of a plant-based diet and Moringa’s proteins:

More and more people in the Western world are embracing a vegetarian or even vegan diet. The medical science has proven in a number of studies and long-term research that a diet with less red meat is significantly healthier and may lead to less health problems. But you don’t have to be a “full time” vegetarian to understand the benefits of a plant-rich food, anybody can notice that by reducing the meat intake and upping the fruits, grains, nuts or veggies, one can feel better and have an improved health, obtain the desired weight loss. But the vegetarians, vegans, as well as all elderly have to pay attention and make sure they get enough proteins and their protein sources are complete.

A “complete protein” refers to the amino acids – the building blocks of proteins. There are twenty different amino acids that can form the proteins in our bodies, in all tissues. Nine of them are called “essential” since the body can’t produce them and have to be supplied by the food. In order to be a complete protein source, a food must contain all nine essential amino acids in roughly equal amounts. The truth is that this is not that easily found among most plants used in the diet today. Eggs and dairy are complete proteins – lucky for the vegetarians, but how about vegans?

Let’s remember that proteins are found in every cell and act as a fuel source for the body, are crucial for muscle growth and repair among others. Lentils, spirulina, nutritional yeast or brown rice are good sources of proteins, but there is an even better one – Moringa oleifera. Its leaves have the highest protein ratio of any plant described so far, while they are comparable in quality to that of soy (a protein-rich plant). Even more, moringa is grown naturally and not genetically modified, and also is not known to induce food allergies by comparison with soy. Moringa contains most of the twenty amino acids, including all nine of the essential ones. When compared to (cow) milk, for instance, which is a favored source of proteins, moringa leaf powder is shown to contain between 5 to 11 times more of each of the essential amino acids, truly remarkable. Tofu (a product of soy) contains all essential amino acids but in less amounts than moringa powder: four times less threonine and tryptophan, three times less leucine or methionine, two times less valine and so on. Moringa oleifera leaf powder is about 25% protein, unusually high for a plant, so one needs to take relatively small amounts of powder to obtain all essential amino acids. A baby needs about 1 g of protein per kg per day, so a baby under one year would need about 10 g proteins, which are found in 3 spoons of powder. To benefit from moringa leaf powder and its proteins add it to smoothies, soups, sauces, juices, and even bread and pastries. Enjoy!

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