Moringa oleifera and myeloma

Thanks to a fellow blogger, Dave (whose two-year-old son Jaymun has been battling AML since birth; the link to his website, “Jaymun’s Journey,” is on the right-hand side of this page), I learned of a new plant with amazing anticancer (etc.) powers: Moringa oleifera.

 

This morning, in fact, I read Dave’s recent report on a group of creative and dedicated Wisconsin high school students who tested a tropical plant extract on a group of mice with cancer. The mice not only survived but also appeared to have lost their tumors, whereas all the ones in the control group died. The students also administered this plant extract to healthy mice that became more active and appeared younger. More details on this fascinating story can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/p8g7yf

 

Moringa oleifera is a very nutritious tree…I mean, yes, you can actually EAT it. I read that its leaves contain more protein than yoghurt (!)…and also calcium, iron, vitamin Bs and so on. For a description of the Moringa oleifera tree, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera Here I read that parts of the tree are used as an antiseptic and in treating rheumatism, venomous bites (!) and other conditions. Interesting…but does it affect myeloma?

 

Wellwellwell, after a very quick Google search, I found a 2007 study according to which Moringa oleifera is indeed strongly cytotoxic to myeloma cells. “Oh, this is good, this is very good!,” I thought. I then checked PubMed where I found 124 studies dealing with this tree and many of its amazing properties. Today, however, I barely have enough time to take a quick look at the 2007 myeloma study. As follows.

 

The study (full study: http://tinyurl.com/oaeo4s) tells us that Moringa oleifera is a multipurpose tree widely distributed in Asia and commonly used in Indian traditional medicine. The leaves of this tree were used in folk remedies for tumors and as a food source for humans (and, I read elsewhere, for animals, too).

 

Why am I not surprised to read that this tree yields substances that are antioxidant, anti-bacterial, fungicidal, hypocholesterolemic and anti-diabetic? Familiar story, eh. In any case, the researchers tested both Moringa oleifera and Vinca rosea  leaf extracts (the drugs vincristine and vinblastin derive from the latter, btw) on myeloma cells. They found that the Moringa extract had much stronger anti-myeloma effects than the Vinca one. Well, how about that?

More testing is needed, of course, but this preliminary data sounds very very good to me…enough to say that another promising substance has joined my rather…substantial, by now, list of anti-myeloma non toxic plant extracts…yay! Oh bother, my time has run out…I really must dash off now to prepare my classes for tomorrow. Ciaooo!

P.S. yes, my blog banner is a photo of Piazza del Campo, Siena. Bravi!

7 Comments

  1. Ordering seed from Moringa Farm in California- $15 for 30 seeds – sounds like in Oregon I should pot it – what have I got to loose-time will tell.

  2. Those students are doing a presentation tomorrow night to their school board …hopefully I’ll get a chance to drive down and hear it.

  3. The world is brimming with cancer treatments.. if only we can stop the burning down, clear cutting, destroying … plants and trees that can save us!
    Thanks always, Margaret!

  4. Margaret. you probably already spotted this through your Google alert too, but I came across two articles about how to combine (curcumine etc) with other natural substances with nanotechnology to make them more bioavailable. The clincher is that the final ingredient looked strangely familiar to me so I went to the cupboard and, lo and behold, we have a huge jar of polyethylene glycol right there. It is the Miralax my husband takes to relieve constipation from all the pills he is on (post-surgery for compression fractures to his L-5 vertebra caused by plasmacytoma and pin-point radiation). It is color-less taste-less minute grains he adds to orange juice once a day.
    The articles are at http://www.news-medical.net/news/2009/04/27/48885.aspx
    and http://www.news-medical.net/news/2008/08/17/40750.aspx

  5. I have been ordering the moringa powder and then putting it in capsules. It takes some time but is cheaper than buying the filled capsules. The tree grows very fast and morniga is being used in Africa for helping famine victims and also AIDS patients. Both the leaves and the pods are eaten.

    I have been taking moringa capsules, 4 6-8 times a day! All I know is that my multiple myeloma has “deceased,” for lack of a better term, to the point where my oncologist doesn’t want to see me for 6 months. Mainly because, to his surprise, I keep getting better instead of worse.

    Moringa is just one thing I am doing. I have also gone “vegan” and I do a lot of juicing. I detail a bit of this on a website a friend suggested I create on my journey. “http://www.keys-to-living.com”

    By the way this is going on to year 4 after diagnosis and I have not had any traditional treatment whatsoever. I am healthy bone wise and no symptoms except there is the presence of cancer cells but the count continues to go down. I just joined this place today so more when I have time!

    1. I have Stage I Multiple Myeloma and am not yet medically treated. I have ordered 5,000 mg capsules of Moringa, but not sure what is a good and safe dose to take to reduce the multiple myeloma?

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