Alfalfa

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
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Alfalfa Articles

   The Vitamin and Mineral Properties of Alfalfa
          Alfalfa has been used for so long (it has been cultivated for over 2000 years) and is so commonly used that it isn’t included in most herbal compendia. The leaves and flowering tops of Medicago sativa are not discussed in any of the classic American scientific works on natural drugs. Most westerners regard alfalfa as cattle fodder, and therefore, rarely take advantage of the beneficial properties of this common plant.



   Sparce Vitamin K Spurs Female Bone Loss
          In a new 12-month study, researchers from Osaka Kosei-Nenkin Hospital in Osaka, Japan, measured blood levels of vitamin K, osteocalcin and other markers of bone metabolism in 71 postmenopausal women and 24 menopausal women who were receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Conventional therapy for osteoporosis includes vitamin D, calcium, calcitonin (a hormone that inhibits bone resorption) and estrogen. Because osteoporosis has multiple causes, these substances aren't always sufficient. The authors suggest that vitamin K may prove a useful adjunct to preventing postmenopausal bone loss. Vitamin K can either be obtained as a supplement or from foods such as alfalfa.

Alfalfa Abstracts

   Alfalfa Seeds Lower Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Apolipoprotein B Concentrations in Patients with Type II Hyperlipoproteinemia
Atherosclerosis 1987 (May);   65 (1-2):   173–179
Fifteen patients with hyperlipoproteinemia (HLP), types IIA (n = 8), IIB (n = 3) and IV (n = 4) were given 40 g of heat prepared alfalfa seeds 3 times daily at mealtimes for 8 weeks with otherwise unchanged diet. In patients with type II HLP alfalfa treatment caused after 8 weeks a maximal lowering of pretreatment median values of total plasma cholesterol from 9.58 to 8.00 mmol/l (P less than 0.001) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol from 7.69 to 6.33 mmol/l (P less than 0.01), which corresponds to decreases of 17% and 18%, respectively.


   Interactions of Alfalfa Plant and Sprout Saponins with Cholesterol in Vitro and in Cholesterol-fed Rats
Am J Clin Nutr 1984 Jun;   39 (6):   917–929
The in vitro interactions of saponins from alfalfa plant and alfalfa sprouts with cholesterol and the effects of alfalfa plant and sprout and saponin-free alfalfa plant on diet-induced liver cholesterol accumulation, bile acid excretion, and jejunal and colonic morphology were examined.


   Alfalfa Saponins and Alfalfa Seeds. Dietary Effects in Cholesterol-fed Rabbits
Atherosclerosis 1980 (Nov);   37 (3):   433–438
Since alfalfa meal prevents hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis in rabbits and alfalfa saponins prevent the expected rise in cholesterolemia induced by dietary cholesterol in monkeys, the experiments being reported here were performed to determine whether alfalfa saponins affect atherogenesis in rabbits.


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Since 8-18-2001

Updated 1-13-2008