Asian medicine has existed for thousands of years, covering countries such as China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, The Phillipines, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and other surrounding regions. It is one of the most respected, accomplished and proven traditional health systems in the world. These Asian cultures are traditionally accustomed to depending on distinct natural health practices to keep them healthy. This Eastern approach is based on seeing the body as whole, and each body part is intimately connected.
For example, each organ has a mental and physical function that can determine good health or disease. Western countries are just beginning to understand at the surface the power of the traditional healing systems of the East through acupuncture and herbal Chinese medicine schools. However, to keep their traditions strong and to survive, they had to distinguish themselves from western medicine.
For example, in the 17th century, traditional Chinese and Vietnamese practitioners began identifying their medicine as Dong Y to distinguish their medicine from the Western colonial medicine. Historically, many societies in Eastern and Southeastern Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere due to migration, trade, and jobs. Therefore it may be safe to conclude that the healing traditions of several Asian groups are interconnected to a degree.
Asian Health
Although Asians come from and for the most part practice a traditionally strong health system that stresses more vegetables than meat overall, they still are subject to succumb to the same aliments and diseases living in the U.S or other western countries. This is primarily due to the “food mix’ of the Standard American Diet, consisting of fast food, deep fried foods in refined oils, heavy milk, creams, cheese, pork, beef, sodas, white refined sugars and flour.
According to the Asian American Health Initiative:
- Asian Americans are the only segment of the U.S. population to suffer cancer as the leading cause of death.
- Asian American women have the lowest breast cancer screening rate among any segment of the population and are typically diagnosed at a later stage compared to other racial and ethnic groups.
- When Asian women migrate to the U.S., their risk of developing breast cancer increases up to six-fold. Asian immigrant women living in the U.S. for as little as a decade had an 80 percent higher risk of breast cancer than new immigrants.
- Asian Americans have the highest rates of liver and stomach cancers and are nearly 3 times more likely to develop liver cancer than non-Hispanic whites.
- Asian Americans are twice as likely to die from stomach cancer as compared to the non-Hispanic white population and nearly 2.5 times more likely to die of liver cancer. (Asian Health Initiative),
- Adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index, Asian American prevalence of diabetes is 60% higher than non-Hispanic whites.
Moringa, the nurturing solution!
No matter how depressing statistics can be, there is always a solution! Moringa can help with your overall nutrition and prevent and reverse diseases based on evidence from Dr. Il Lae Lung an author, and cell biologist who works for the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, KAERI, a highly respected science institution in South Korea.
Dr. Jung approached his scientific questions through various experiments using the lung cancer line A549. These cells were extracted from affected lung tissue, then bred and multiplied in a laboratory. Next, these Lung cancer cells were exposed to numerous concentrations of Moringa oleifera leaf extracts. A result, higher the concentration of Moringa leaf extract, the lower the growth of lung cancer cells. Furthermore, through a certain portion of Moringa leaf powder, it was discovered that there was no growth of cancer cells. In conclusion, according to Dr. Jung, lung cancer cells show typical features of a phenomenon called apoptosis. Apoptosis is the dying of a cell according to a genetic program when Moringa is applied.
Now going a bit deeper in describing exactly what Moringa is, let’s look at a brief history of this powerful plant, in which this article is based on. Moringa has been used throughout Asian healing systems for hundreds of years. Moringa is native to Africa and India and was first cultivated in Eastern Asian countries such as the Phillipines, China, Vietnam and other countries hundreds of years ago. Moringa is called different names depending on the region of Asia or the dialect. For example, in China, Moringa is called La Ken and in Cambodia, it is called Ben aile to name a few.
The magical Moringa tree, has 4 times the vitamin A of carrots, 2 times the protein of milk (and 4 times the calcium), 7 times the vitamin C of oranges, and 3 times the potassium of bananas. Moringa also has 25 times the iron of spinach, and high in Omega 3’s. It also contains some 46 antioxidants and 92 vitamins and minerals, making it the most nutritionally powerful plant in the world!
Recently, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing strong evidence for health benefits long associated with drinking Moringa tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published results of an epidemiological study revealing that drinking moringa tea can reduce the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese women and men by roughly sixty percent.
In an article written about Moring by Mark Fritz of the Los Angeles Times states, “Scientifically speaking, Moringa sounds like magic. It can rebuild weak bones, enrich anemic blood and enable a malnourished mother to nurse her starving baby. Ounce for ounce, it has the calcium of four glasses of milk, the vitamin C of seven oranges and the potassium of three bananas”.
Various parts of this magical plant such as the roots, leaves, seed, fruit, bark, immature pods and flowers act as circulatory and cardiac, stimulants, antiepileptic, antiulcer, antipyretic possess antitumor, antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, diuretic, cholesterol lowering, antihypertensive,hepatoprotective, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antifungal, antibacterial activities, and are being implemented for the treatment of different ailments in the indigenous system of healing medicine, particularly in South Asia.
In Manila, Philippines, Moringa is so prevelent and in abundance in families backyards, it has become the national Philippine vegetable under a proposed law that has been recently passed by the House of Representatives. This bill, granted and approved by the lower chamber (House Bill 2072) It has also been declared as the vegetable for every November as the “National Malunggay Month.” Pangasinan Fourth District Rep. Gina de Venecia, the bill’s authors, cited the economic, nutritional and medicinal benefits of malunggay (the name for Moringa in the philippines). She states that the vegetable was promoted by the World Health Organization for the past 20 years as low-cost or minimal health booster in poor countries.
Furthermore, De Venecia also stressed the importance of malunggay products to the Philippine economy. Last, It has been reported by several news agencies that former boxing standout from the philippines Manny (PacMan) Pacquiao has revealed his secret to the public that much of his strength and endurance has to do with his consumption of Malunggay……..Moringa!
To point towards more evidence, researchers at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) displayed that leaves of four Moringa species (oleifera, peregrina, stenopetala and drouhardii) all contained extremely high levels of antioxidants and nutrients. Malunggay grows anywhere, particularly in the Philippines. It has many uses in the culinary food scene. Moringa or Malunggay is often mixed in soups, sauces, hot meals salads, and other dishes. Currently, it is also used as tea, noodles, soaps and shampoo. In Koronadal City region in South Cotabato province, rice cakes are mixed with Malunggay is viewed as a solution to the chronic issues of malnutrition in the area.
It is well advised that it you are from Asian descent or any culture on earth, Moringa powder can improve you and your families overall health drastically. Thanks for reading!