Nutritional Composition and Clinical Tolerance of a Food Plant in Female Wistar Rats: The Case of Moringa oleifera Species

Abstract

Moringa oleifera L. is a plant used throughout the world in many fields, including agriculture, health and nutrition. Moringa oleifera leaves are consumed throughout West Africa, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire by vulnerable populations. With a view to enhancing the value of the Moringa oleifera plant, a contribution to nutritional composition and clinical tolerance in rats force-fed an aqueous extract of this plant was studied. The study was carried out experimentally on 12 adult female Albino Wistar rats divided into two (2) batches of six (6) rats. The first batch received distilled water by gavage (twice a day for 4 days), while the second received the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera at 0.2 g/mL by gavage. Nutritional composition indicated protein, lipid, carbohydrate, ash and dietary fiber contents of 26.12±0.18%; 6.8±0.13%; 14.37±0.26%; 9.5±0.67% and 43.2±0.519% respectively. Acidity and pH values were also 1.1±0.0 meq/100 g and 5.3±0.00 respectively. After observation, all animals survived for the duration of the experiment and showed no adverse clinical signs. This shows that the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera is not only rich in nutrients, but is also clinically tolerated by rats. These results open up interesting prospects for the use of the Moringa oleifera plant in the form of an alicament that could be an effective means of combating public health diseases in breastfeeding women.