Moringa oleifera leaf-based diet combats malnutrition in rats

Abstract

Poor nutrition is not simply implying unavailability or inaccessibility to good food which is a struggle only for the under-developed or developing countries. It is inclusive of different version of malnutrition (e.g. overweight and obesity) now endemic in the developed countries like the United Kingdom. These types of malnutrition are closely linked to non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and cancer. Hence, disputing the fact that availability of something to put in the mouth could prevent malnutrition. Moreover, many of the uninformed and unselective choices of food also predispose the populace to their target flights. Children and women in sub-Saharan Africa suffer more from malnutrition caused by undernutrition especially protein deficiency. Many of the commonly available protein sources are usually associated with unwanted antinutrient substances. Consumption of these proteins leads to malnutrition (overweight and obesity) in subjects. The replacement of these protein sources with 25% Moringa oleifera leaf provided sustainable improvements in some biochemical and haematological parameters of examined in this study. All the haematological indices such as red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), haemoglobin (Hb) and packed cell volume (PCV) were observed to be significantly lower than the control before treatment, but these parameters were significantly increased after treatment with both treatment feeds. Serum concentration of albumin was significantly (P<0.05) reduced in experimental rats following feeding with low protein iso-caloric diets. This concentration however increased significantly after feeding the malnourished animals with the formulated treatment feeds, with the most significant increase in the group treated with 25% M. oleifera. The treatment feeds also produced significant changes (P<0.05) in serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)