Wonder Plants — Moringa

Mohan Chinnappan

3 min readJul 10, 2021

Getting **proper** food is a human right — Bharthiyar

In this multi-post, we will be covering wonder plants that nature has created for the wellness of humans and animals.

We will focus on the wonder plants which are easy to grow with little or no maintenance.

First in the line will be Moringa (derived from Tamil: முருங்கை).

Moringa (Moringa Oleifera)

Moringa is loaded with Vitamins. Also known as Wonder Tree, Miracle Tree.

It is a Vitamin making machine:

Let us solve the Malnutrition problem with the wonder plant:

Problem and facts:

“Malnutrition causes a great deal of human suffering and is associated with more than half of all deaths of children worldwide. Malnutrition severely impacts the socio-economic development of a nation because a workforce that is stunted both mentally and physically may have a reduced work capacity. The interaction of poverty, poor health, and poor nutrition has a multiplier effect on the general welfare of the population and also contributes significantly towards keeping a population in a downward trend of poverty and nutritional insecurity. Thus nutrition plays an important role in the reproduction of poverty from one generation to the next.”

According to WHO, 19% of the 10.8 million child deaths globally a year are attributable to iodine, iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiencies

Micronutrient deficiencies are now recognized as an important contributor to the global burden of disease.

Iodine deficiency in pregnancy has long been linked to intra-uterine brain damage and possible fetal wastage. This has led to effective programs for making iodized salt available in iodine-deficient areas. Currently, while more than two billion people live in areas that used to be iodine-deficient, it is estimated that iodine deficiency is the attributable cause of only 0.2% of the global burden of disease.

Iron deficiency also affects about two billion people. However, interventions to control iron deficiency have been less successful. Recent estimates find that iron deficiency anemia is responsible for a fifth of early neonatal mortality and a tenth of maternal mortality. Iron deficiency also reduces cognitive development and work performance. Iron deficiency is the attributable cause of about 800,000 deaths and 2.4% of the global burden of disease.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) harms the eyes and increases childhood and maternal mortality. Globally, 21% of children have vitamin A deficiency and suffer increased rates of death from diarrhea, measles, and malaria. About 800,000 deaths in children and women of reproductive age are attributable to VAD which accounts for 1.8% of the global burden of disease. This appears to be lower than previous estimates, possibly because of vitamin A supplementation or food fortification programs during the last decade.

The importance of zinc deficiency is being increasingly recognized. Trials have shown that zinc supplementation results in improved growth in children, lower rates of diarrhea, malaria, and pneumonia, and reduced child mortality. In total, about 800,000 child deaths per year are attributable to zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency is the attributable cause of 1.9% of the global burden of disease.

Solution: