Walaa MR El-Meidany1*, Dalia I. Tayel1, Ahmed A. El-Nawawy2
1Nutrition Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Egypt
2Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt
*Corresponding Author Email Address: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Background: Fever is a very common complaint in children, about 20% of childhood fevers have no apparent cause and the risk is greatest among infants and children younger than 36 months. Physical examination and patient history do not always identify the cause. Moringa oleifera is a desert tree found in the Middle East to India and it could provide health benefits to humans by protection against oxidative stress. It also showed an antipyretic effect compared to paracetamol in an experimental animal. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the antipyretic effect of Moringa oleifera in a case of toddler presented with pyrexia. Subjects: An 18-month-old girl was feverish for four days with loss of appetite. There were no symptoms of upper or lowers respiratory infection or otitis media or gastrointestinal disease. Results: The temperature returned to normal after an hour of sweating when the girl drank 40 ml of warm water extract of five grams of Moringa leaves boiled for twenty minutes. Conclusions: Moringa oleifera can be a safe and natural alternative to other well-known antipyretics for treating toddlers having fever who could not tolerate certain antipyretic medications due to some its side effects and to avoid the unnecessary use of antipyretics that in case it is not efficient alone it will be combined with other medications such as antibiotics.
Keywords: Moringa oleifera, Antipyretic, Fever, Toddler
Citation: El-Meidany WMR, Tayel DI, El-Nawawy AA. Effect of Moringa oleifera Water Extract on Pyrexia: A Case Study. Canad J Clin Nutr 2018; 6 (2): 57-61.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14206/canad.j.clin.nutr.2018.02.05
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