Exploring the Potential Mechanisms of Moringa oleifera and Rice Bran in Iron Deficiency Anemia: A Drug-Likeness and Network Pharmacology Approach

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) remains one of the most prevalent nutritional disorders worldwide and is shaped by disrupted iron homeostasis, inflammation-driven hepcidin regulation, and oxidative stress. This study aimed to computationally explore the potential mechanisms of quercetin (from Moringa oleifera) and γ-oryzanol (from rice bran) selected as representative, well-characterized bioactives using drug-likeness evaluation, target prediction, and network pharmacology analyses. Drug-likeness assessment indicated favourable absorption-related properties for quercetin, whereas γ-oryzanol violated key Lipinski criteria (MW > 500 and LogP > 5), suggesting potential limitations on oral bioavailability. Target prediction and curation identified 380 IDA-associated in silico targets for quercetin and three for γ-oryzanol, highlighting a marked disparity in target coverage that may reflect database limitations and/or physicochemical constraints for γ-oryzanol. Enrichment analysis (significance threshold p < 0.05, with FDR < 0.05 applied where indicated) suggested involvement of pathways related to iron absorption, inflammatory responses, and oxidative stress. Network analysis indicated that quercetin is predicted to connect with key nodes linked to the hepcidin–ferroportin axis, including HAMP and SLC40A1, whereas γ-oryzanol showed a limited network primarily centered on IL6, which may indirectly relate to hepcidin regulation. Overall, these findings generate testable hypotheses that quercetin and γ-oryzanol could modulate IDA-relevant pathways, but they do not constitute evidence of efficacy; experimental validation in in vitro and in vivo IDA models is required, particularly given γ-oryzanol’s limited predicted targets and drug-likeness constraints.