A Perfect Food

What if there were a food that contained protein, the major minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, etc), trace minerals (including iron and zinc), vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K, fiber, flavonoids, and an array of enzymes to help digest it all? What if it could be consumed in a number of different forms – tea, sprouts, tablets? What if it were shown to be beneficial for about a gazillion (that is a bit of an exaggeration, but not as much as you might think) different body problems, from bad breath to liver disorders, indigestion to infections, allergies to diabetes? What it if were really inexpensive to consume? Sound almost too good to be true? Fortunately, the key word there is “almost”, because such a food really does exist.

Alfalfa, which means “father of all foods” in Arabic, has held a valued place in the ancient herbal traditions of India, China, Spain, and the Middle East.  What ancient healers learned through centuries of observation, and what we confirm today through science, is that alfalfa is a storehouse of nutrients.  Its tap root reaches down as deep as 20 feet, searching out nutrients and minerals from deposits in the soil, while its leaves gather large amounts of chlorophyll through the natural process of photosynthesis.  And all this is from a plant that stands only 2-3 feet high.  So kind of like an iceberg, the biggest and most significant part of it can’t be seen.

We tend to have a pretty good sense of what the major minerals do, but alfalfa also contains a bunch of the trace minerals, which are increasingly difficult to get in our diet today.  Processed foods and foods grown on overworked soil yield little, if any, of these vital nutrients.  Trace minerals are needed (critically) by the body in amounts less than 1/10 of a gram per day.  Because its roots go so deep, alfalfa can collect these minerals from the soil that has not been overworked.  These minerals include iron and zinc, as mentioned above, as well as copper and iodine.  Daily amounts have been established for all four by the FDA.  But in addition, alfalfa contains chromium, molybdenum, selenium, manganese, tin, and nickel-all of which are also critically needed by the body for things like bone health, thyroid hormones, insulin production and utilization, enzyme production, red blood cell creation, and on and on.

Alfalfa is also very valuable for its vitamin content.  It contains about 8000 IU of Vitamin A for every 100 grams.  This compares favorable with apricots (7000) and beef liver (9000).  In addition, alfalfa is a good source of pyridoxine, one of the B vitamins and Vitamin E, whose great importance for the health of muscles and the heart is well known.  Alfalfa is regarded as the most reliable source of vitamin E for herbivorous animals.  In addition, it is extremely rich in vitamin K, ranking with spinach, kale, and carrot tops.  Vitamin K protects against hemorrhaging and helps the blood to clot properly.  Alfalfa contains from 20,000 to 40,000 units of vitamin K for every 100 grams.

But if you’re wondering what alfalfa can really do for a person (if just being a great nutritional source isn’t enough), you’ll need a chunk of time to get through the list.  Here is just a partial compendium of what alfalfa and the nutrients it contains can do…

Many arthritic and rheumatic and bursitis sufferers report that aches and pains and stiffnessof arms, shoulders, legs, and hands modify greatly or disappear, usually within weeks, when alfalfa is used regularly and freely.  Many stomach and digestive miseries disappear, including ulcers, gastritis, and constipation.  It’s provided great relief to many who suffer from sinus issues, allergies and asthma.  It relieves fluid retention and balances water levels in the body, so it can be especially helpful for those with PMS or menopausal issues.  It’s helpful for urinary tract or prostate problems, bad breath and body odor, gout, deteriorating eyesight, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, acne or other skin ailments (including eczema), fatigue, sore muscles, endometriosis, and deteriorating kidneys.  It helps with anemia and diabetes.  It improves lactation.  It helps with bleeding gums and athlete’s foot.  It fights infection and inflammation.  It’s good as a sleep aid, for alleviating coughs, promoting good energy levels, and balancing the body’s pH.  As one lady remarked, “It appears that alfalfa is good for just about everything.”

Here’s a quick excerpt from The 4-Week Cholesterol Cure, by Dr. Bruce Miller:

But it’s not just about the alfalfa plant.  There are lots of alfalfa supplements out there, but the Shaklee difference makes the Shaklee Alfalfa Complex the best on the market.  From the first planting to final bottling, Shaklee utilizes every safeguard to help protect the freshness and potency of the natural alfalfa plant.  For example, Shaklee alfalfa is grown without pesticides, herbicides, or inorganic fertilizers, and it contains no fungicides, bacteriocides, synthetic hormones, growth regulators, or chemicals (of course, since it’s Shaklee).  It’s harvested in the morning, before the heat of the day, so that the nutrients are still in the leaves instead of the roots.  This is very important, because as the day heats up, the fluids (and therefore a lot of the nutrients) retreat to the roots, so alfalfa harvested in the afternoon or evening has far less nutritional value.  Shaklee’s processing also uses only the leaves, because that’s where the nutrients are.  Most other alfalfa products include the stem, because it is difficult to separate the two.  But because Shaklee does, the nutritional concentration in its product is superior.  Numerous people have reported to us that they tried a different alfalfa product and got no positive results, but when they switched to Shaklee, the effects were profound.

At harvest, the alfalfa leaves are cured in the open air, the natural, old-fashioned way (so no high heat to destroy enzymes), rather than in a hot oven.  Once dried, the alfalfa is ready to be “milled.”  The end product is a fine, green-colored alfalfa “flour” which must measure up to Shaklee’s stringent laboratory standards, free of toxins and contaminants (remember all the testing that Shaklee does).  The flour goes through the tableting process, where each batch is checked to ensure uniformity of ingredients.  No artificial colors or preservatives are added, of course.

The tablets can be swallowed or dissolved into a tea, and at only about a nickel per tablet (!), it is one of the most economical sources of nutrition to be found anywhere.

Shaklee’s a Bargain!

A friend here in Virginia works with another company that sells a variety of products. They have one product, however, that is sort of their star product. She was wanting to impress us with this product and she gave us lots to read about it. In the material it stated that the product contains chlorophyll (which is excellent for you), enzymes, and small amounts of different vitamins and minerals, and even amino acids (protein). We couldn’t help but think it sounded very familiar, so we pulled out various literature pieces about Shaklee Alfalfa and confirmed that these two products have a lot in common. One difference, though, is that the Alfalfa, in addition to having amino acids, enzymes, chlorophyll, and minerals, also contains all of the known vitamins and a lot of trace minerals.

We were struck by the high price of her product, but we noticed that their caplets are bigger than our alfalfa tablets, so we did a little math to be sure we were being fair as we did a comparison. We discovered that hteir product costs 51% more than alfalfa at their respective retail prices and 58% more at their member prices. This does not even take into account the qualiry issues, such as the fact that their product is processed using heat (it is in their literature if you look close enough). Of course their company has no published research proving the bioavailabilit of their products. The bottom line is, does it get absorbed and used by the body? Without the research, one just doesn’t know!