Can Moringa boost and heal your iron deficiency? Do we know moringa leaves are a top iron rich vegetable?
In Odisha [India], we are born and brought up with moringa plants which are loaded with beautiful green leaves throughout the year. Besides that, they are widely available, quite affordable, and capable of supplying required iron to your body. More importantly, the leaves carry built-in absorption and metabolism counterparts. A unique combination of iron, and enhance of iron by absorption followed by metabolism ensures healthy elevation of iron level in the body. There are other parts of moringa like pods and seeds that are rich in nutrition and iron as well. In this post web will focus on moringa leaves.
Raw Twigs of Fresh Moringa Leaves to Boost and Heal Iron Deficiency-Image
Highlights
You need 18 mg of iron as a female and 8 mg for male (age 19-51). Moringa as a single nutrient can be good enough to satisfy your iron requirement in the body.
Not only is it the top iron rich vegetable, it is loaded with multitudes of other high quality ingredients to provide complete nutrition to the human body.
Why Moringa?: It improves early iron deficiency and iron deficient anemic situations. The super nutritious moringa improves overall health defying malnutrition.
How Moringa Works?:The presence of iron with vitamin C and fiber together ease iron absorption and digestion respectively, enriching iron in the body.
How Much Moringa Leaves Should I Eat in a Day?: Consuming moringa powder is proven to be safe, even at higher levels. Daily dosage of moringa should be limited to the equivalent of 70 grams of moringa leaves per day or 11 teaspoons of moringa powder. Iron rich Moringa leaves contain 28.2 mg/100g of dry leaves.
How Do I Eat Moringa? Tea, soup, Sautee, pancakes, cook with lentils, as an ingredient with other vegetables and greens. If you’re a foodie, here is your option to add health in creative ways.
Not Convinced Yet!
Moringa powder capsules are being sold as iron supplements and they have worked. Healthcare professionals prescribe them for iron deficient people. You may need to consult your physician before you add to your diet.
Make use of the affordability, ease of access, cost effectiveness and its versatility of use.
Why Moringa For Iron Deficiency?
Poverty can easily be the cause of malnutrition and many diseases. One of them is the lack of desired amount of iron in the body. About half of the Odisha-India population, mostly women, lack this essential nutrient. Our body does not produce iron though it stores some from the food you eat. This supply needs to be restored regularly, so is the need to feed iron on a daily basis.
Beyond Iron, moringa leaves contain ingredients for Iron absorption to get inside your body and metabolize ensuring iron availability in your system to do the necessary function.
Moringa leaves are widely available, free of cost or fits anyone’s budget to buy and feed the family in every single meal.
It Fits Your Budget
You are never poor to have moringa in your meals every single day. If you are a low income based family, moringa leaves can be your choice to fill your desired iron level.
Readily Available Anywhere Throughout the Year Irrespective of the Weather
Available in all seasons, climate and soil independent, the crop could be just picked as a fresh lovely green leaf and is ready to use. If you don’t grow yourself, you can pick from your neighbors or neighboring villages. Most of the time it is free to get or you may have to pay minimal.
Easy to Grow
- Growing the plant is easy.
- It can be grown in hilly areas, fertile lands. It survives drought, heavy rain.
- You get a small stem from someone having a tree and plant it in a small hole in your yard or in a big pot filled with soil.
- In a week or two, the precious leaves are ready to be used either raw or dried. If you are reading so far you would like to know the moringa facts and nutrition profile.
- The plant doesn’t need fertilizer or pesticides.
- It is grown naturally organic in the state. The situation might be different in commercial setting.
Moringa Nutrients Essential for Elevating Iron in Our Body
While the entire range of moringa nutrition is described already, we have picked out the essential nutrients for iron, its absorption and digestion. Raw and fresh moringa leaves contain the following.
51.7 mg 62% Vitamin C
4.00 mg 31% Iron (Minerals Quantity, %, Daily Value for adults)
185 mg 19% Calcium
9.40 g Protein
2.00 g Dietary Fiber
8.28 g Carbohydrate
78.22 g water
Protein adds to good health. Carbohydrate gives you energy and the fat content is low.
How Does Plant Based Iron in Moringa Get Absorbed in Humans?
Moringa leaves dry and raw are constituted of vitamin C which helps the vegetarian non-heme iron convert to absorbable heme iron.
Iron available in moringa is a vegetarian iron (non-heme iron) and not suitable to be absorbed. Vitamin C or Ascorbic Acid helps the process by converting the iron form from ferric (oxidized state) to ferrous state reduced state) which is suitable to form hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells and improves healthy blood in the body.
Calcium is known as an inhibitor of iron absorption. However in moringa, calcium exists as insoluble salt and is not likely to interfere with the moringa sucking to the human body? This gets eliminated from the body in urine and doesn’t form kidney stones.
The presence of dietary fiber in moringa leaves is a prebiotic helps the digestion of iron and a healthier you
How to Consume Moringa Leaves
- Make a tea, use them in a salad, sauté it to make a wholesome meal by itself.
- Cook with lentils to make soup or add add it a soup
- Make green juice by grinding the leaves in water
- Add to pancakes or curries
- Use in bakeries
Varieties of Tasty Moringa Inspired Dishes
Mixed Greens and Moringa-Sautee and use as salad. Fresh Moringa Leaves Tea in hot water
Use your imagination to create more dishes like making green juice with fruits, cooking with other vegetables and more.
Moringa inspired (pancake)
Dosa
Moringa leaves cooked in moong dal
How Much Moringa Leaves Should I Eat in a Day?
Consuming moringa powder is proven to be safe, even at higher levels. Daily dosage of moringa should be limited to the equivalent of 70 grams of moringa leaves per day or 11 teaspoons of moringa powder.
| Age | Male | Female | Pregnancy | Lactation |
| Birth to 6 months | 0.27 mg* | 0.27 mg* | ||
| 7–12 months | 11 mg | 11 mg | ||
| 1–3 years | 7 mg | 7 mg | ||
| 4–8 years | 10 mg | 10 mg | ||
| 9–13 years | 8 mg | 8 mg | ||
| 14–18 years | 11 mg | 15 mg | 27 mg | 10 mg |
| 19–50 years | 8 mg | 18 mg | 27 mg | 9 mg |
| 51+ years | 8 mg | 8 mg |
* Adequate Intake (AI)
Bottom-line
Moringa leaves are good source of iron. It keeps up your iron level. Make this affordable healthy nutrition as part of the daily meal which will keep you and your family healthy with out adding much cost if any.
Disclaimer: All information and resources found on this website are based on the opinions of the author resulting from researching NIH, NCBI and many of high authority websites unless otherwise noted. All information is intended to encourage readers to make their own nutrition and health decisions after consulting with their healthcare provider.
