CHEMICAL ANALYSIS ON THE SAFETY USE OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVES

Safety use of moringa oleifera leaves.

Abstract

In Nigeria, increased food insecurity and inflation led families to seek alternative sources of a healthy diet, leading to a rising percentage of homes using Moringa oleifera. The question is, how safe is this plant? Chloroform-extractable metabolites of the Moringa oleifera, family Moringaceae, order Brassicales, claimed to be efficacious in ethnomedicine, have been studied to separate, isolate, and identify metabolites in the extract. Fresh parts of Moringa plants were extracted with chloroform solvent equilibrated with water made basic to ensure the extraction of components of moderately polar characteristics. The components extracted were separated in the Gas Chromatograph (GC) and subsequently analyzed in the Mass Spectrometer (MS) using GC-MS instrumentation. The structure of the separated components was determined using MS spectra lines, and the structure was confirmed using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Chemistry Webbook database. GC results indicated that twelve components were extracted from the leaves extract. N-2- fluorenyl acetamide, isoheptadecanol, and coumarol/coumarin were some of the extracts from the chloroform extracts. A characteristic compound of MO, benzyl isocyanate, was also extracted. N-2-fluorenyl acetamide identified in the chloroform extract is a potentially carcinogenic and mutagenic derivative. This raises concerns about the safety of using Moringa oleifera and advocates for the use of its water extract instead of the whole leaves.