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June 2001
Natural nutrition for the tropics
Moringa oleifera is one of the world's most useful plants. The Moringa tree is commonly named for its long bean-like fruit the ”Drumstick Tree”.
It is an extremely fast growing tree, drought tolerant and leaves and pods are of high nutritional value. It is commonly consumed in curries and contributes to a cheap and highly nutritious meal.
Moringa is an ideal plant for the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka.
- Use: leaves (vegetable), pods/drumstick fruit (vegetable), roots (oil), bark (medicine)
- Purpose: food and medicinal purpose
- Cultivation: requires very little space to thrive does neither need irrigation, nor artificial fertilisers or pesticides produces fruits/vegetable and leaves for more than nine months of the year
Nutritional value of drumstick leaves
Drumstick leaves are full of essential disease-preventing nutrients, they contain:
- 7 times more Vitamin C than oranges
to fight many illnesses including colds and flu
- 4 times more Vitamin A than carrots
against eye disease, skin disease, heart ailments, diarrhoea
- 4 times more Calcium than milk
to build strong bones and teeth
- 3 times more Potassium than bananas
essential for the functioning of the brain and nerves
- nearly equal amount of Protein as in eggs
basic building blocks of all our body cells
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