Moringa oleifera leaf powder supplementation improved the maternal health and birth weight: a randomised controlled trial in pregnant women

Background This study was carried out to assess the effects of Moringa oleifera leaf powder (MOLP) on maternal health and birth weight. Method Subjects were anaemic pregnant women at third trimester living in a rural area of South Sulawesi Province, parity one to three and singleton pregnancy. They were randomly assigned into two groups (each n=19); daily MOLP distributed into four capsules (each 500mg), or iron-folic acid (IFA), containing 60mg iron and 400mcg folic acid. The intervention was for 2 months. Measurements included anthropometric, haemoglobin, perceived stress, cortisol and birth weight. Result Most of the participants were between 20–35 years old (74%) and had low economic status (92.1%). At baseline, all variables were similar in both groups, except for perceived stress and cortisol which were higher in the MOLP group. Haemoglobin improved significantly in MOLP and IFA groups, but the amount of improvement was higher in the MOLP group (1.46±0.35 vs. 0.76±0.42). Perceived stress decreased significantly in the MOLP group after treatment (16.16±8.10 to 9.68±3.82) but did not change in the IFA group (11.16±4.41 to 13.11±5.42). Cortisol level declined in the MOLP group after treatment (22.46±3.96 to 19.55±4.17) but increased significantly in the IFA group (18.53±3.66 to 22.13±5.68). Mean birth weight was significantly higher in the MOLP group (3390g±383 vs. 2937g±400). Conclusion Giving 2g of MOLP per day for 2 months during the third trimester of pregnancy is effective to improve the health status indicators of pregnant women and to increase infant birth weight in the moderately anaemic pregnant women.