Moringa
oleifera – ‘The Miracle Tree’
Interview
with Alan Boswell
by
Maria Teresa De Donato
A native to the Indian
subcontinent, Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing and drought resistant
tree of the family Moringaceae that can be found in the equatorial and tropical
areas of our Planet.
Today, I am going to
discuss about the characteristics and benefits of this tree with my colleague
Alan Boswell, an English native who has been living in Thailand for quite some
time.
MTDD: Hi Alan, and
welcome to my Blog and Virtual Cultural Salon. Thank you for reaching out to me
and for taking the time for this interview.
AB: You
are welcome Maria Teresa and thank you for taking interest in The Miracle Tree.
MTDD: Alan, why don’t you
start by introducing yourself to our readers and sharing whatever information
you wish to?
AB: I
was born in east London in 1950 and ended up in Ipswich. I have had my own businesses
since 1976 and retired to Thailand in 2018. My studies came from the University
of Life. However, I did take a year off and trained as a counsellor and another
studying psychology at OU. I have written and published a Sci-Fi novel. Almost
as far back as my teens, I have had a fascination for what makes us tick.
MTDD: When and why you became
interested in foods, nutrition and health-related matters and products?
AB: In
the fifties, my mother shopped daily and we had a proper cooked meal every day.
There wasn’t any processed foods and food went moldy pretty quick. I stuck with
home cooking all my life, if not shopping daily. Over the years, I noticed more
and more ready to cook meals and that some was slow to go moldy. I thought if
bacteria can’t live on it, nor can we.
In more recent years I
have lost a number of friends to cancer, the youngest in his forties. He ate
nothing but fast food. Not exactly a scientific study, but it got me thinking.
The cancer rate has climbed with the increase of processed foods.
In 1940 there were
1 in 16 diagnosed with some type of cancer.
In1970 it was 1 in
10
Today it is
heading for 1 in 3.
We have four times
the cancer to heart death rate than poor countries.
A patient is diagnosed
with cancer every 90 seconds on average, a study by Macmillan Cancer Support found.
The current 2.9 million will rise to almost 3.5 million by 2025, it estimates –
with health services already struggling with chronic staffing shortages.
Source The Mirror
Big food
corporations are only interested in profit for shareholders, not our health. If
they can replace anything with something cheaper, they will. Hence, artificial
flavors, colouring, preservatives, stabilizers and more. Chemicals damage new
cell growth, which can mutate into cancer. In fact, even chemical vitamins are
known to damage the liver.
"3 out of ten non disease liver
failures are due to chemical vitamin supplements" Dr Jeffrey Weinstein, who is the medical
director of liver transplantation at the hospital, told the station: "Many
of these are advertised as natural and healthy. I view them all as drugs and
chemicals, so there should be good caution into how you use them and why you
use them." The doctor also claimed between three and four out
of ten cases of acute liver failure – in which the organ fails without liver
disease – are linked to supplements
Source The Sun
Chemicals in everything.
MTDD: What is it about Moringa oleifera that caught your attention and why did you become so interested in it?
AB: After
moving to Thailand, in the ‘jungle’, not so much jungle now but farmland, I
noticed that people shopped for food every day, fresh, local produce. Like us
in the fifties. My plan here was to build an aquaponics farm. While researching
this, someone said he supplements his fish with Moringa leaves because of its
high protein content. Therefore, I researched it and was astounded. It is the
most nutritious plant on Earth. 92 nutrients and 46 antioxidants, 40% protein,
that is more than egg and it has all nine amino acids that we need.
MTDD: Could you tell us a
little bit about your farm in Thailand? And if you personally cultivate
Moringa, can you walk us through the whole process from its planting to the
production of this herbal remedy?
AB: I
was even more astounded when my wife said, “Oh yes, we grow it on the farm”
like it was nothing. Of course, here it is a well-known Thai Herb and used for
over a thousand years. However, I wondered why we have never heard of it. It
turns out that scientists have only recently begun to analyze it and it will
not grow in Europe. It made me aware of the health impact of different diets.
Moringa is basically a softwood, fast growing tree, it grows wild here like
buddleia in UK. It produces many seeds that are very easy to grow and if you
cut the green stems and push them into the soil, they will take root. This tree
produces root tubers, that help it survive through drought and hardship.
Insects do not like it so, what a cheap reliable answer to the poor nutrition
in Europe. However, most do not believe. ‘If
this was so good, we would have heard of it’. (We know everything in the west.)
The family farm raises
twenty thousand chickens at a time, raises buffalo and has rice and sugar. It
is like going back in time, which suits me fine, a slow pace of life. We could
learn a lot here.
MTDD: There are plenty of
plants and herbal remedies out there that have all sorts of properties and can
be beneficial to our health. What are the major properties of Moringa and how can
people benefit from its use?
AB: Moringa
is not a medicine. People in the west have been brainwashed by big pharma that
chemical drugs can treat any problem. (They usually cause other problems.) Nevertheless,
as soon as a person has an ailment, they look for a remedy to target it.
India's ancient
tradition of Ayurveda medicine uses Moringa, but the process treats the body
NOT the illness. Our bodies have evolved alongside most illnesses and can fight
them as long as it has the fuel to do so. Moringa alone has most of what we
need. While some plants are higher in one nutrient, nothing comes close to our
overall needs. Regular consumption will keep your body in tip top shape, that
is more natural than waiting for a problem, then targeting it.
Having said that, Moringa is a
powerful anti-inflammatory and there are many claims of rheumatoid arthritis
pain relief. (A man’s arthritis relief. https://youtu.be/DJTDqdpRAqw)
It is a slight laxative helping to
detox and cures hemorrhoids. It reduces
some of the symptoms of diabetes and is rich in calcium minerals aiding bone
health. Basically it is most of what our body needs.
MTDD:
When it comes to herbal remedies, we are strongly advised to be careful. As a
matter of fact, in Nature whatever is useful and beneficial to many individuals
can also have side effects and/or even compromise the health of somebody else.
The result depends on several factors, such as quality and quantity/dosage of
the product/remedy used as well as the individual’s specific response to it,
which is something that nobody can predict.
In this regard, What
would you suggest to a potential customer of yours?
AB: There
have been no known adverse effects from Moringa, you cannot overdose on it,
although that will cause diarrhea. It is still just a vegetable for all its
content. After all, it has been used for a thousand years in Asia. I would just
suggest try it and see, adjusting the amount to suite.
MTDD: Do you manufacture
only one product with Moringa oleifera or different kinds such as herbal
tea and essential oils, just to name a few?
AB: I
started with dried leaf in capsules as that is the most convenient for today’s
fast lifestyle. However, I want to add lose leaf for tea and cooking as soon as
I can. The oil is more difficult to extract. I have a company encapsulating
Moringa in the UK and I might point out that I do not allow ANY chemical
additives. Most capsules on the market contain Anti-Caking
agents, aluminum silicate, bentonite, magnesium silicate, and
steric acid. Some preservatives, ascorbic acid, sodium benzoate, parabens, and
nitrates. Binders, Gelatin,
cellulose, modified food starch, and polyethylene are just some of the binders
used. Ours are veggie and vegan and natural.
MTDD: Is there any other aspects
you would like to consider, before we conclude our discussion, and that our
readers might benefit from?
AB: Only
to be careful of what you eat. Supermarket shelves are full of cooking sauces
and ready to cook foods. These are all full of chemicals and manufactures do
their best to conceal these contents.
MTTD: Thank
you, Alan, for taking part to our interview and for all the useful information
you provided about this amazing tree.
How can our readers get
in touch with you and/or order your products should they so choose?
AB: Anyone can contact me
for advice on alan@siamsolutions.store
or try our Moringa at https://www.siamsolutions.store/order,
at £2.70 per week it is an inexpensive way to keep healthy.
IMPORTANT! The above material is
only educational and not intended as medical advice. Whatever
your condition, please consult with your physician first.
