THE LATEST SUPER FOOD-AN OBSCURE GREEN LEAF!

Man's saga in search of right foods that gives him immortality never ends but with each passing day this passion is kept going by reports here and there about new as well as not so new miracle foods that will ensure healthy life. Whether it is the antioxidant rich natural plant products or grains like Quinoa, Chea etc health food industry is always willing to oblige the consumer with products that meet with their aspirations. No wonder health food stores have become a common feature of the retail market stream in many wealthy countries where diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, kidney disorders, obesity etc are rampant. It is an irony that wealthier a society becomes, more frequent is the incidence of diseases associated with wrong foods and wrong eating! Those who are hungry cannot access good foods but those who are wealthy ignore healthy foods going for palate tingling rich but nutritionally unbalanced processed foods ending with poor quality of life eventually. Latest to emerge (or reemerge?) in the health food landscape is an obscure leaf called Moringa about which the whole world seems to be getting excited! Here is a take on this development.

"The leaves of the moringa trees may be the world's most nutritious green—and they're coming to a health-food store near you. Remember the moment when every runway regular suddenly became a supermodel? Now every healthy edible wants to be called a super food. Which is why even that term likely doesn't do justice to moringa, a tree leaf that contains more nutrients and natural remedies than your body knows what to do with. Ancient warriors fueled for battle with the leaf extract, hot for the stamina and strength it gave them; and legend has it that Egyptian Pharaohs were buried with it to sustain them in the afterlife. Health-savvy Americans are the latest followers, thanks to the energy, immunity, and metabolism boosts moringa delivers. "Moringa has incredibly nutritious qualities—it has 3.5 times the calcium of milk and 4 times the vitamin C of oranges," says David Wolfe, author of Super foods. All you have to do is open the bag and let the good nutrients roll".

Of course the scientific data available do confirm that Moringa is a nutritionally excellent food source and it is also a fact that it is being consumed in some parts of the world since long. In fact a substantial population in countries like India who are economically depressed, living in rural areas depend on a variety of leaves as sources of nutrients like vitamins and minerals besides good quality proteins as these leaves cost a fraction of traditional vegetables consumed by well to do population. Besides these leafy plants grow wildly all around and village folks have a fairly good knowledge about the type of leaves which are edible for picking up the right ones. Interestingly Morimga tree yields lush green leaves in abundant quantities and grow in the wilderness with no organized farming reported any where. As a part of the nutritional strategy countries like India must encourage planting of Moringa on waste and unused lands belonging to the government allowing people to harvest the leaves for their daily food use.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com