MORINGA AS A MEANS OF PREVENTING

CERTAIN CANCER CASES

Zenricaie A. Tabelisma
Nutrition and Dietetics Department
Adventist University of the Philippines
Puting Kahoy, Silang, Cavite

ABSTRACT
Cancer cases have been increasing in the past years and will continue to grow in the
future according to World Health Organization. As a solution, Moringa was
recommended to be a preventive measure. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the
properties of Moringa responsible for its preventive ability. Included here are
investigations and experiments that were implemented to examine and prove that
Moringa contains high amounts of the substances such as phytochemicals needed to act
against cancer. This journal seeks to define Moringa as an effective alternative way in
preventing cancer.
Keywords: Moringa oleifera, cancer, prevention, phytochemicals, carcinogenesis

INTRODUCTION
Causes of cancer have increased in the
past and as a result it is predicted by the
World Health Organization that cancer
cases will increase rapidly in the next
years. The American Cancer Society has
expected about 1,658,370 new cancer
cases to be diagnosed in 2015. Since no
cure has been proven to be a hundred
percent effective, preventive measures
such as including Moringa in the diet has
been recommended.
Moringa, also called Moringa Oleifera,
is a South Asian tree which is a member
of the Moringaceae family (Carvalho, et
al., 2008). It is mostly grown in tropical
countries and is recognized for its wide
range of uses. It has been used for its
medicinal property due to its high
nutritional value. Different parts of the
plants can be used because they contain

a variety of nutrients namely proteins,

vitamins,
minerals,
and
various
phytochemicals which have different
roles on our health (Ahmed, et al., 2013;
Diedericks, et al., 2014).
Many researches were conducted to
prove the preventive property of
Moringa and investigations were made
to discover the substances in it that make
this possible. Compared to other
vegetables, Moringa showed higher
potential in radical scavenging and
higher content of the substances needed
in preventing cancer (Chimuka, et al.,
2013). Addition to its efficiency,
Moringa is a cheap way of preventing
cancer and it is readily available for
everyones use (Ferreira, et al., 2014).
According to Majambu Mbikay (2012),
on the Internet, M. oleifera is variably
labelled as Miracle Tree, Tree of Life,

Mothers Best Friend, Gods Gift to

Man, and Savior of the Poor. Knowing
the constituents of Moringa will help the
people know the appropriate use of this
plant.

Chimuka, et al., (2013), Torres-Castillo,

et al., (2013), Charoensin, (2014), and
Chanda, et al., (2012) are several who
investigated
Moringa
with
diphenylpicrylhydrazine (DPPH), a free
radical, and results showed that it
prevented formation of DPPH.

METHODS

Veena, et al. (2012) investigated on

Moringas efficacy on preventing liver
cancer in mice that were exposed to 12dimethyl-benz[a]anthracene (DMBA).
DMBA is a type of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAH) which are organic
pollutants highly distributed in the
environment due to human activity. This
DMBA induces production of ROS to
cause liver cell damage and DNA injury.
Since treatments for liver cancer remains
poor, Veena, et al. (2012) conducted this
research to see the effect of Moringa in
DMBA. They compared ten control
groups of mice that were given DMBA
with five taking Moringa and five not
taking it. The results showed that the
livers of the groups given with Moringa
were protected from hepatocellular
damage and oxidative damage caused by
this carcinogen. DMBA also decreased
the levels of antioxidant activity in the
liver, but Moringa then restored the loss
of it. They concluded that because of
Moringas high content of antioxidants,
it is able to overcome carcinogenesis.

How does Moringa prevent cancer?

1. Moringa as an Antioxidant
It has been researched that Moringa is
rich in antioxidants. The antioxidants
present in Moringa are color pigments,
flavonoids, polyphenols, cytokinins,
carotenoids, minerals, lipids, amino
acids, and sterols (Moringa Antioxidants,
n.d.).
These antioxidants are mostly
concentrated in the leaves.

Phenolic acids like beta-sitosterol,

caffeoylquinic acid and zeatin (Euler,
n.d.)., sterols, carotenoids, flavonoids
such as quercitin and kaempferol
(Diedericks, et al., 2014), and vitamins
A, C, and E are responsible in
preventing oxidative stress or damages
to happen in the cell and prevent DNA
injuries. Reactive oxygen species (ROS)
or free radicals, which are unstable
compounds found in food, pollution,
etc., produce lipid peroxidation in the
cell membranes. Lipid peroxidation
causes wasting of lipids in the cell
membrane. When the cells are unable to
reduce the free radicals, it continues to
damage the cells leading to oxidative
stress. Oxidative stress then leads to
carcinogenesis.
These
antioxidants
prevent this action by scavenging ROS
or free radicals from the body and
converting them into a more stable
product (Tacio, 2008; Carvalho, et al.,
2008; Veena, et al., 2012; Chimuka, et
al., 2013). Among the researches
conducted in relation to free radicals,

2. Moringa as an Immune System

Booster
A weak immune system is more
susceptible to cancer. When the immune
system is weak, it cannot fight the cancer
cells and pathogens in the body; causing
it to multiply and continually damage the
cells (Bollinger, 2015).
Moringa contains all the essential amino
acids and eight non-essential amino
acids. Amino acids contain antibodies

that destroy pathogens and prevent them

from entering and damaging the cells.
With vitamin C (Corpus, 2009), these
high amounts of amino acids make it
possible for Moringa to help boost the
immune system (Fusco, 2014; Cancer,
n.d.).
Moringa also has anti-microbial property
that inhibits growth of certain pathogens,
such as Staphylococcus aureus, that
helps lighten the burden of the immune
system (Bollinger, 2015). Lim (2012)
reported that niaziminin, a biochemical
compound in Moringa, was found to
inhibit Epstein-Barr virus. He also
reported of another biochemical
compound, benzyl isothiocyanate, which
showed antibacterial activity against
Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia
coli.
3. Moringa as Cancer Cell Growth
Inhibitor
When cancer inhibits the body, it has an
uncontrollable cell growth. Before that
happens, Moringa prevents its growth. It
has been claimed that Moringa is related
to cytostasis which means to stop cell
growth (Anti-Cancer, 2015). This is
because cytokinins, isothiocyanates,
glucosinolates, and thiocarbamates are
biochemical compounds present in
Moringa that inhibits cell growth and
multiplication (Chuturgoon, et al., 2013).
Charoensin (2014) examined the
reaction of Moringa on human cancer
cells and normal cells. The results of his
study suggested that Moringa prevented
the growth of cancer cells and showed
no cytotoxicity, which means toxicity to
cells, in normal cells. Certain genes that
cause cell cycle and cell death mutated
in cancer cells, while genes of the
normal cells remained the same. He
concluded
that
the
biochemical

compounds present in Moringa are

responsible for this.
4. Moringa as an Antitumor
When free radicals inhibit DNA repair
process, it causes mutagenesis and
results in inactivation of certain tumor
suppressor genes which leads to cancer
(Ahmed, et al., 2013). Moringa has the
capability to inhibit tumor growth and
prevent mutagens from damaging the
DNA. It contains niazimicin (Tacio,
2008; Moringa and the Fight Against
Cancer, n.d.), isothiocyanates and other
thiocarbamates that has been reported to
stop tumor formation.
Isothiocyanates were examined to inhibit
growth of certain cancer cells including
leukemia, prostate cancer, breast cancer,
lung cancer, cervical cancer, and
colorectal cancer. The mechanism of
isothiocyanates is through inducing
apoptosis, which means cell death. It
causes cancer cells to die before forming
tumors. It also prevents angiogenesis,
which means growth of new blood
vessels. Cancerous tumors cause
angiogenic growth factor proteins that
stimulate blood vessels to grow into a
tumor (Wu, 2009).
Olson (2015) mentioned a researcher in
his article named Jed Fahey who
investigated about the role of
isothiocyanates in cancer. Jed, with his
colleagues, tested the isothiocyanates
with mouse liver cells. Several steps
were done and the results showed that it
can deactivate mutations in cells and
prevent tumors to develop. The results
emphasized that it can only prevent and
not treat cancer according to the results.
The researchers also examined the
isothiocyanate content of Moringa and it
showed that Moringa contained high
amounts of this chemical compound

meaning it is an effective way of

preventing cancer.
Cytokinins also prevent tumor growth.
Once cancer has been established in our
body, antioxidant action is limited.
Before this happens, the immune system
must fight back against this cancer cells.
The body produces cytokines, which are
proteins, that slows down spread of
tumors. Unfortunately, cancer has the
ability to overpower the immune system
meaning cytokines are not enough.
Moringa contains cyotokinins that
function similarly to cytokines helping
in preventing tumor growth (11 Good
Reasons for Malunggay, n.d.; Casati,
2011).

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Moringa has proven its
ability to prevent certain cancers, such as
liver cancer, Burkitt lymphoma, skin
papillomas, ovarian cancer, pancreatic
cancer, lung cancer, esophagus cancer,
and breast cancer (Hupston, 2010). It has
been found to contain antioxidants,
biochemical compounds, and other
phytochemicals that is advantageous in
keeping our health in good state. It
prevents cancer through inhibiting
carcinogenesis, cancer cell growth, and
tumor
formation;
as
well
as
strengthening our health to be able to
fight the causes of cancer.
Though it may not be qualified in
preventing cancer cases caused by
genetic and some microbial factors,
these do not hinder Moringa as an
effective preventive measure. It is still
recognized to contain high nutritional
content and is recommended as an
alternative way because it is easily
accessible and cheap (Charoensin, 2014;
Ferreira, et al., 2014).

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