Researchers at Meru University of Science and Technology have come up with innovative products using muguka and miraa in a move geared towards changing the narratives on these often controversial commodities. Led by a food scientist, Prof Joshua Arimi, a team of researchers has developed an energy drink, wine, and chewing gum from the plant scientifically known as Catha edulis: khat.
Prof. Arimi took the opportunity presented during the opening ceremony of the MUSTIC 2024—the Third International Conference of Meru University of Science and Technology, to announce the development of Miraa Bamboocha wine and Muguka Energy Drink. These are some of the products in their final stages of discovery on the nutritional and chemical composition of miraa and muguka.
“We have been researching mainly on the nutrition and vital chemical composition of miraa and muguka,” Prof. Arimi commented. He said that both are plants rich in vital chemicals and polyphenols—micronutrients occurring naturally in plants—renowned for their fiber and nutraceutical properties.
The reason for conducting this study was to make muguka and miraa plants more marketable to a wider consumer base. Usually, most people are not attracted to the raw form of these two plants. With the new products having been attained, like energy drinks, wine, and chewing gum, the researchers presented an explanation of how they would give the benefits of the plants concurrently with refining their less attractive raw form.
In its current form, miraa and muguka add about KSh 13 billion into the Kenyan economy. However, their present form lacks presentability; hence, the need for value addition. According to Prof. Arimi, value-added products would mean a better way of regulation that would prevent underage consumption of these stimulants.
Prof. Arimi also pointed out the controversies surrounding some of the harmful effects of khat, especially at the Kenyan Coast. According to him, it is said to have adverse effects in Mombasa, yet people in Embu and Meru take it in huge amounts with no such effects manifested. “There must be another factor contributing towards that behaviour and mannerism in Coast and not miraa and muguka”, he said.
Khat contains over 50 compounds, amongst them cardinal and cathine, which are responsible for its stimulating effects. Miraa and muguka begin to wither, and this conversion of cardinal into cathine takes place, according to Prof. Arimi, thereby making it less potent. It is other compounds—and the researchers are looking into their possible benefits—that may mean there is more good in these plants than what has been perceived so far.
Ongoing research at Meru University is underway to further flesh out the benefits of various compounds found in miraa and muguka. In the process, it shall seek that as new applications and benefits are opened up for these plants, posterity shall equally embrace the positive uses for the same, therefore contributing to scientific knowledge and innovation.