I've been using Go-Lacta since I first encountered it at ILCA in 2009.  
Before I started recommending it, I read everything I could find about 
it, to reassure myself of its safety.  My anecdotal experience with it 
is that it is far more effective as a general galactagogue than 
fenugreek/blessed thistle.  Here's a quote (with permission) from a 
recent mother (caps are hers): " I think the Go Lacta is helping 
already.  Started it Tuesday.  As I think I said earlier, I was meeting 
her need, but I like to use fresh breastmilk with solids so needed 
extra.  I pumped almost 6 ounces from one breast the other morning while 
I was nursing (I HAVE ONLY EVER PUMPED THAT MUCH TWICE AND THAT WAS FROM 
BOTH).  This AM I did 4 ounces and just now I pumped 2.5 (which is a lot 
for me nighttime after [baby] nursed)."

If anyone is interested in learning more about moringa/malunggay, I 
suggest you go to www.treesforlife.org.  There is a wealth of 
information about its use in the developing world as a nutritional 
supplement for children and adults.  Or watch this Discovery Channel 
video - 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDSksjGNCA&feature=player_embedded   
Near the end a midwife talks about supplementing nursing mothers' diets 
with moringa powder.  When I researched this plant I was just blown away 
with how important it is.  Its use as a galactagogue is a bonus.

It makes no sense to compare drying spinach and putting it in capsules 
with Go-Lacta since spinach is readily available.  That's not the same 
for moringa.  Women in Africa, India, and the Phillipines can pick it 
off the trees and put it in their soup, but most of us can't.  (If you 
live in the far south of the U.S. you can probably grow it in your yard 
- it's an attractive plant/tree.)  But unless a mother happens to have 
one in her backyard, Go-Lacta is a reasonable alternative.  If a mother 
is having trouble producing enough breastmilk, suggesting she might want 
to spend $20 for a bottle of something that MIGHT help and is absolutely 
safe strikes me as definitely ethical.

And BTW, one of the two studies Dr. Hale cites in suggesting that 
moringa might not be safe refers to the ROOT, not the LEAF.  I can't 
speak to that, since all the information I have about moringa as a food 
supplement refers to the use of the leaves.  Go-Lacta is 100% leaves.

Becky Krumwiede, RN, IBCLC
Appleton, Wisconsin
Where the moringa tree I grew from seed grew to be 3 ft. high in my 
garden this summer, but will surely not survive the winter.
And in the interest of full disclosure, I do sell Go-Lacta, but since 
I've given away as much as I've sold, have probably not profited from it.

> Date:    Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:14:15 -0400
> From:    Michelle Pensa<[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Moringa/Malunggay
>
> In fairness, the published evidence that's available is scant - the most commonly cited source of effectiveness and safety is an unpublished study, funded by Go-Lacta, whose design makes it unethical to use out of the gate (even if the conclusions were useful, which I'm not sure they are). Go-Lacta also seems to have taken it down from their site (I wanted to link to it here).I've heard a lot of people talking about other studies, but they're not readily available in North America. (from the Philippine Family Medicine journal as well as two unpublished studies). The obscurity makes it hard for anyone to judge whether they personally are comfortable with that evidence (or to provide it to the primary health care providers or client who are really the ones making the final call).
>
> This is a problem with many herbal preparations, but it is more of a problem with this one than say, fenugreek/blessed thistle.
>
> That it's a common food (and I can vouch from Filipino friends that it is) doesn't mean that it has no risks. We eat tumeric all the time, but it's still used medicinally (and with caution in that form). Frankly, if someone was drying up spinach and selling it for $20 a bottle, I'd have some big questions for them too. Not only about whether a food reformulated as a medicinal actually is as "safe" or effective, but whether it's ethical to recommend undertaking a course of treatment which costs $80+ a month (and up to 9 pills a day) when the soup might be just as effective.
>
> It's simplified somewhat in Canada in that Go-Lacta is not approved for use by Health Canada and thus individuals have to import it themselves from the US - so really the applicability is limited unless clients are willing to import it themselves (knowing that Health Canada discourages the practice).
>
> I do suspect that there's something to this because there are a number of people using it regularly whose opinions I respect - and I don't think they'd be using something that doesn't work in their clinical practice. But still, it's not something I am personally comfortable recommending in pregnancy at all or a first-line during breastfeeding.

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