By Noreen Jazul

Malunggay is a staple of many of Filipino families’ tables, not only for its low cost, but mostly for its various health benefits.

Also known as Moringa oleifera or moringa, malunggay has been known to help treat multiple diseases such as diabetes, heart ailments, diarrhea, skin diseases, and others.

Health experts are now saying the vegetable, which has immune-boosting nutrients, can also help strengthen the body to fight off disease.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, in a press briefing last Jan. 30, mentioned eating malunggay among the preventive measures the public can adopt to stave off the new coronavirus.

“Drink a lot of fruit juices and eat, put malunggay in many of your soup or other foodstuff,” Duque said.

Salina Teo, a nutritionist, said malunggay’s purpose is for “immunity.”

“Nakakatulong [ang malunggay] dahil mataas siya sa Vitamin A at C,” Teo told Unang Hirit on Feb. 4. (Moringa helps because it is rich in Vitamin A and C.)

Teo added that malunggay is rich in minerals such as calcium, iron, and potassium, and also contains a “good amount of protein” and fiber.

Nelly Favis-Villafuerte, in her Manila Bulletin column “Amazing information about moringa (malunggay),” wrote that malunggay leaves “abound in essential disease-preventing nutrients.”

The leaves, she wrote, are also used to treat respiratory diseases such as bronchitis.

Babita Agrawal and Anita Mehta, in their clinical study “Antiasthmatic activity of Moringa oleifera Lam,” suggested that the seeds of M. oleifera can be “considered as a useful drug” for bronchial asthma, also a respiratory disease.

The bottom line is that while malunggay cannot directly cure or prevent the new coronavirus disease, it can help boost the immune system and reduce one’s chances of acquiring the illness.