A Fresh Look at Moringa: Protein

Our next stop was New Delhi, where we went to call on Dr. Gopalan, President of the Nutrition Foundation of India. Dr. Gopalan was an eminent scientist of worldwide repute, and the first person to have suggested scientific research on moringa leaves. We asked him if it was true that moringa contained protein.

“Certainly,” he said, “and in large quantities.”

Within hours, we were pouring through the literature. To our surprise, there was indeed evidence that the moringa leaves contain a large amount of protein of the highest quality. How could we have missed it? The information existed, but our eyes had not been opened to it. We were focused on vitamin A.

We started wondering what else we were blind to. We took a fresh look at moringa leaves, this time with no preconceived notions. Now moringa was no longer a means to our objective, it was the objective of our study.

What we found changed our perspective. Moringa leaves were not merely a preventative for blindness. They could help fight malnutrition on a global scale. 

We researched moringa for almost three years. Based on that information, we decided to create an authoritative book to be shared with the masses. 

Our research with the villagers had shown that for moringa to become a movement, it would need validation not only from international research, but also from local scientists. For that, local research was needed, which would require funding. It was important that the information percolate from the top down and not vice versa.   

Since heads of states are very busy people, our challenge was to convince them in less than 10 minutes that the book about moringa was worthy of being passed down the chain of command for further investigation. A second section of the book would need to provide backup information and data for their scientists. Creating such a piece turned out to be a tough assignment.

We knew we needed to create a piece of  “candy” . . .  a book that would evoke in people the desire to have it, not just a book filled with facts that spoke only to a person’s intellect. The facts about moringa had been available in libraries for many, many years, but they had never caught on with the masses. Our “candy” had to build a dream showing that the health of the readers’ families could improve because a very important source of nutrition grew right at their doorsteps.  

Our very capable team went through draft after draft. It was my job to be the bad guy who said, “No, the dream is still not there.” We had already spent four years and the book was not ready. Then a woman with just the expertise we needed joined Trees for Life as a volunteer for a year. She had quit her high-paying job with an advertising agency in New York, where she had designed and created annual reports for large pharmaceutical corporations. 

Like a skilled potter, she used facts as clay to create a beautiful piece of art. She was like a tigress. No one could get in her way. When someone suggested we use only one page to tell about the protein content of moringa, since we were short of space, she insisted the fact was important enough for two full pages. Those pages were filled with a large photograph of a girl playing soccer, symbolizing that protein builds our body. There were to be no compromises.  

The result was a beautifully illustrated 32-page book with a minimal amount of text, printed on the best available paper. I said “Yes” to this version of the book, which was both poetry and a dance.

A paper company donated the paper, and we secured another grant to help with the cost of printing 15,000 copies.

In 2005, we launched a campaign to distribute this book into all the right hands. The response was immediate and long lasting.

The book became the fulcrum for a worldwide movement to plant moringa trees. It was the pivot point that allowed the news about moringa to spread far and wide with very little effort. 

One of the first signs of the book’s impact came when I took a copy with me to India. I delivered it to a man who had long been disgusted with me for not providing information about moringa in writing.

“If moringa is so good, give me something in my hands in black and white,” he had told me.

After he read the book for just a few minutes, he pressed it close to his heart, as a child might hold on to a piece of candy.

“You cannot take it away from me. This exceeds my expectations,” he said.

There was a similar reaction when I gave the book to a former foreign minister in Nicaragua. He held the book to his chest in exactly the same way.

“You will have to kill me to get this book back,” he said.

A priest in Africa asked us to send him 10 books, which we did. He told us that when the books arrived, the customs agents wanted to levy a duty for imported books. 

“I went to them, opened the package and showed them the books,” he said. “I told them what the book was about. When that happened, they all said, ‘Please get more copies and distribute them around the country. But please, just give us one book.’”

We started receiving more and more reports like his. People from all over were asking us to send them another 10 books, another 15 books. We were spending hundreds of dollars a month just to ship them. One donor suggested we should start charging, but we knew that spreading the news of moringa was far more important than money. 

Even today, many of the manufacturers of moringa products use our literature and graphics. We did not want any credit ascribed to us, and we made sure people knew it. At the end of the book there was a statement: 

“This publication is totally, utterly, completely, absolutely and without a doubt copyright free. Share it freely with people who can make a difference.”

And they have.