Alfalfa Helps Reduce Joint
Swelling and Stiffness
Alfalfa is known as the “father of all foods,” Its natural health benefits have been recognized for centuries. Its leaf contains a wide range of healing properties that help reduce arthritis pain, swelling and stiffness in joints.
The plant contains a storehouse of nutrients. Reaching depths of 20 feet into the soil, its root brings forth vitamins and minerals in their most natural form.
Before my husband's knee replacements, he played tennis four times a week for 16 years after his orthopedist recommended total knee replacements in 1999. The premium quality alfalfa supplement he uses made a profound affect on knee swelling and stiffness from osteoarthritis in both knees. When we’ve cut back the daily intake of alfalfa tablets to the manufacturer's recommended number of ten, his legs become stiff and his knees swelled up after tennis. When he tripled the daily amount, there’s minimal stiffness and no swelling. He had knee replacements in November 2015 and February 2016, resumed tennis three times a week in June, 2016. He continues using alfalfa daily.
The herb is completely safe and is popularly used as an alternative natural source in homeopathic medicines worldwide. Today, alfalfa is suggested for treating arthritis, anemia, asthma, diabetes, ulcers, stomach ailments, ,a href=/gout-supplements.html target="_blank">uric acid issues, kidney and bladder problems, prostate conditions, colon problems, gas pains, hiatal hernia, water retention and gout.
Alfalfa leaf has natural diuretic properties, which may promote the loss of water retention in the body. It also may relieve swelling caused by excess water accumulation or fluid build-up as an inflammatory response.
What is alfalfa?
Alfalfa (medicago sativa) is a flowering plant in the pea family cultivated as an important forage crop for cattle
and is most often harvested as hay. It has been used as an herbal medicine for 1,500 years.
This herb is not native to the United States and did not arrive until around 1850. Now, the US is the largest producer in the world, led by the states of California, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
The plant is a cool season perennial legume resembling clover with clusters of small purple flowers. It grows to a height of 3 feet and its tap root reaches deep to search out nutrients and minerals from soil deposits. Its leaves gather large amounts of chlorophyll through the natural process of photosynthesis.
After being harvested, alfalfa plant cuttings are sun-dried in the open air. The leaves are separated from the stems and milled into a fine, green powder or concentrated under special conditions. The dehydrated leaf is commercially processed as a natural dietary supplement for humans in several forms, such as tablets, powder and tea.
Its leaves are a natural source of the plant pigment, chlorophyll, and the mineral magnesium. Also present are trace amounts of iron, copper, zinc, boron, chromium, molybdenum, manganese, potassium, beta carotene, vitamins in the B group, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E and vitamin K. It's also higher in protein than many other plant foods.
Alfalfa can be safe for autoimmune diseases
You may have read where people with rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, should not take alfalfa supplements because of the amino acid L-canavanine found in its seeds and sprouts. You must be careful when purchasing alfalfa tablets--you'll get what you pay for!
L-canavanine is found only in alfalfa seeds and young plants to nurture the plant as it grows. When the plant reaches maturity and is ready for harvest, this amino acid is no longer present. The featured supplement, Complex Alfalfa, used by my husband and I for more than twenty years is made from mature plant cuttings and does not include seeds or sprouts.
In addition, it has been independently tested in the laboratory and found to be essentially free of this L-canavanine compound with a limit of detection of just a few parts per million. In fact, these findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
What are the side effects of alfalfa
There are no side effects reported in healthy people using alfalfa in its recommended dosages. There are also no studies of its interactions with traditional pharmaceuticals.
Occasionally, an herb at the prescribed dose causes stomach upset or a headache. This may reflect the purity of the preparation or added ingredients, such as synthetic fillers or binders. For this reason, it is recommended that only high-quality herbal products be used.
The risks of the untested and unregulated dietary supplement industry
When you purchase a dietary supplement in the United States do you think “big brother” is taking care of you? The answer is a resounding no!
Aren’t dietary supplements monitored for efficacy by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA)? The answer is a resounding no!
Aren’t dietary supplements tested for ingredient purity so that the substance dosages printed on the label must be found in the bottle? The answer is a resounding maybe!
In the US, herbal and nutritional formulas are sold as dietary supplements, which are not regulated the same as drugs by the FDA. Therefore, pre-market evaluation for efficacy and approval by the FDA are not required.
FDA industry guidelines leave consumer as 'guinea pig'
The alfalfa dietary supplement featured, based on its outstanding science-based production, is rated as the best alfalfa tablets in the U.S.
Within the industry, dietary supplements are not equally tested for manufacturing consistency, purity or potency. While the new current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) regulations address this factor, there remains no standardized testing requirement by the FDA. Instead, ingredient testing methods are left up to individual companies to decide, meaning the composition of supplements may still vary considerably between manufacturing lots, as they have in the past.
The new regulations announced in 2007 were phased in over three years, beginning with large companies in June, 2008, smaller companies by June, 2009, and very small companies by June, 2010. There are by far more small companies than large in this industry.
Because the new rules also don’t address efficacy, it’s possible in the U.S. that you can buy dietary supplements that have no power to produce an effect whatsoever. You have no recourse about this, except to waste your money. But what about safety?
If a supplement causes you harm, then the FDA will step in, after the fact. As FDA spells out in its October 6, 2011 Dietary Supplements publication, it only enforces regulations after an unsafe dietary supplement reaches the market. In other words, the consumer is the guinea pig.
How to find the best dietary supplement company
But wait a minute! All is not lost. You can find high quality supplements right now in the dietary supplement industry. You just have to know how.
Because of lack of regulation, a number of years ago I drafted a list of 30 questions concerning standards of excellence to help me measure different supplement manufacturers. I was searching for the best products money could buy for the health of our family.
The answers led me to the industry's pioneer firm, founded in 1956—a leader in the natural nutrition industry. They are now the #1 natural nutrition
company in America. The science behind each of their products is second to none. They’ve invested more than $250 million in clinical testing, research and development and have over 100 published studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals—more than any other nutritional company! They have a "Beyond Organic" philosophy with regard to ingredient testing. This company has voluntarily operated as if it were regulated the same as a pharmaceutical company—a testament to their integrity, in my opinion.
The active ingredients on all of their natural products’ labels are guaranteed for safety and efficacy. They guarantee product purity and potency and that it remains intact from the manufacturing plant, to the warehouse, to your home with every bottle they make.
If you can find any other manufacturer with a track record as impressive as this company with a conscience (which, by the way, has marketed the same alfalfa supplement for nearly 60 years), you’ve got a winner!
By the way, in 2003 they introduced three natural pain products we use every day for osteoarthritis symptoms. We are very pleased with the results we’ve experienced, which has weaned us completely away from pharmaceutical drugs of any kind. I have neck arthritis; my husband has osteoarthritis in his shoulder and other joints.
Featured natural alfalfa supplement for arthritis relief
My husband and I are both proponents of alfalfa tablets as part of our nutritional supplement program, and for relief of the swelling and localized fluid retention caused by arthritis.
The "Father-of-all-foods" supplement we use contains no synthetic fillers or binders whatsoever.
It contains a combination of chemical-free alfalfa leaf, chlorophyll (one of nature’s detoxifiers and deodorizers) and spearmint oil leaf, and contains 3.0 grams of alfalfa per serving.
The original formula was developed in the 1950’s and is still made today by the same company using only the finest California organic alfalfa leaf. It contains no fungicides, bacteriosides, synthetic hormones, growth regulators, or chemicals. It has no artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, or preservatives added.
Each serving also provides 300 mg of calcium. Its tablets may be crushed and added to boiling water to make a natural tea, or they can be swallowed.
We believe it's the best of its kind available anywhere. The company’s commitment to science is respected industry-wide. For these reasons, I confidently recommend this 700-size Complex of Alfalfa dietary supplement (also available in 330 tablet size).
Disclaimer: Health statements on this page have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease
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