Moringa oleifera – A Functional Food and Its Potential Immunomodulatory Effects

Abstract

ABSTRACT Moringa oleifera (M.oleifera) as nutraceuticals and nutritional resources in human diets has gained attention in recent years, in part due to the extensive use of this plant in traditional foods and medicinal therapies in various regions of the world. Concurrently, the role of immune modulation in the treatment of several human diseases has received considerable attention. This paper mainly aims to summarize our current understanding of M. oleifera immunomodulatory potential and its possible mechanism of action. M. oleifera is considered as medication to combat numerous diseases. Collectively, the data suggest that M. oleifera comprises a diverse group of bioactive compounds which can be used as nutritional and therapeutic agents to regulate the host immune system, in turn helping to combat various disorders including cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. Also M.oleifera contributes toward the host health through restructuring the gut microbiota, which in turn helps to control various diseases such as inflammation and to enhance host immunity. Finally, it is concluded that the M.oleifera can be used as potential nutritional source to developed new functional food with ability to promote the host immune system. Overall, a huge gap in knowledge was apparent, suggesting that further in vitro and in vivo investigations are needed to document the immunomodulatory potential of M. oleifera supplemented functional foods.