“our moringa capsules are a great non-animal source of protein, containing nine of the amino acids classified as essential”
“profiled on “The View” and “The Dr. Oz Show,” our moringa capsules will jump-start your day and re-energize your life with its protein with all essential amino acids”
“moringa capsules are packed with protein to supercharge your workout and build those muscles ”
Let’s see how these claims stand up to an analysis of the content of the capsules.
Moringa capsules usually contain about 400 mg of dried moringa leaf powder. On average, moringa leaf powder that includes mostly leaflets, and not the woody petiole and leaf rachises, contains about 20-30% protein. 25% of 400 mg = 100 mg protein. According to the World Health Organization, an average adult needs 105 mg protein /kg body weight /day. Therefore an 80 kg adult needs some 8,400 mg protein/day. Assuming that all of the protein in moringa is available to the body, dividing the average daily need by the amount of protein in moringa (100/8400X100) shows that that a moringa capsule contains about 1.2% of the protein needed every day. To get the protein you need in a day, you would need to take more than 80 moringa capsules!
Clearly, taking a moringa capsule will provide very little protein nutrition. This shows that a capsule is the wrong presentation for what is really a food, a leaf vegetable like spinach or chard. It is great to eat broccoli or beans or eggs or milk or any other nutritious food. But common sense tells us that a capsule, even of something as protein-dense as steak, will not provide much in the way of protein for the body.
Those who push moringa miracle products are scamming you if they give you a very long list of known benefits. There are good reasons to think that moringa has a great many benefits, and current knowledge certainly justifies consuming the plant, but it is unfair to tell people that knowlesge of these benefits is 100% certain.
So is taking capsules useless? For protein nutrition, they provide next to nothing. But for effects that depend on their isothiocyanates, like cancer prevention or glucose regulation, then seems possible that these small doses might be useful. I usually advocate consuming more, and as a cooked vegetable, because this is more pleasant and would seem to hedge one’s bet by providing higher doses than capsules. But for sure taking some, even small doses, is probably better than taking none. Even though it tastes bad, consuming dry moringa leaves is probably better than nothing.
But in the end, Moringa is a food, not something to be taken in a capsule. To obtain the nutritional benefits of moringa, eat the leaves as a food. Think spinach, chard, or any other green leafy vegetable. How would you include these in your diet? That is what moringa is for, delicious and nutritious.