RED CLOVER BLOSSOM
(Trifolium pratense)
Excerpted from:
New Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way
By Susun Weed
“Red Clover is everything you thought soy would be, with none of soy’s drawbacks. Instead of leaching minerals from the bones, Red Clover contributes generously to bone health. Instead of disturbing the thyroid, Red Clover helps normalize it. And Red Clover has an iron-clad reputation for preventing and countering breast cancer. So do miso and tamari, but not other soy foods.
“Red Clover contains more active phytoestrogens in greater quantity than soy. Strong infusions of the blossoms are thoroughly safe to use and highly effective. Countless women who have wanted to become pregnant have succeeded after drinking Red Clover infusion for 3 – 18 months.
“Whether you are still longing to be a mother, or yearning to be done with your childbearing years, Red Clover is an ally you will lean on for the rest of your life. It is a subtle, complex herb, mild yet deep, superbly nourishing and wonderfully grounding.
“Use Red Clover before and during your menopausal years to:
q Keep yourself hormonally fit
q Reverse premature menopause
q Improve your chances of having a child after the age of 40
Red Clover flower heads contain many hormone-like flavonoids, including isoflavone, daidzein, genistein, formononetin, biochanin, sitosterol, and coumestrol, a particularly strong phytoestrogen (six times more active than the one in soy). Red Clover contains all four major estrogenic isoflavones; soy has only two of them. A cup of Red Clover infusion (not tea) contains ten times more phytoestrogens than a cup of soy beverage, is richer in calcium, has less calories, and contains no added sugars.
q Moderate the intensity of your hot flashes
Women who took powdered dried Red Clover in capsules had as many hot flashes as those taking a placebo. Red Clover blossoms need to be infused in water to liberate their minerals and phytoestrogens. Women who drink Red Clover infusion have high urinary excretion of phytoestrogens, and that correlates strongly with easier hot flashes – and less breast cancer.
q Prevent and reverse breast cancer
Red Clover strengthens the immune system, improves lymphatic functioning, repairs damaged DNA, turns off oncogenes, reverses pre-cancers and in situ cancers, and has been used for hundreds of years by those who wish to become very old women. To promote breast health, I drink 1 – 2 quarts of infusion a week.
q Improve memory, clear confusion, increase energy
Red Clover infusion is rich in iron, chromium, B vitamins, and other trace nutrients necessary for good mental and physical functioning.
q Ease your anxiety
q Relieve muscle and joint pain, diminish headaches
The tincture of Red Clover is a profound relaxer and soothing calmative. Its salicylic acid content (similar to aspirin) makes it an excellent pain reliever, too.
q Keep your skin supple and healthy
q Increase vaginal lubrication
q Ease incontinence, relieve cystitis
Red Clover infusion nourishes and soothes the mucous surfaces of the lungs, throat, bladder, and vagina, countering inflammation and relieving dryness. Regular use relieves skin rashes and may reduce wrinkles.
q Prevent osteoporosis
q Prevent strokes
Red Clover’s minerals build strong bones twenty ways. And its blood-thinning coumarins help prevent strokes.
“Dosage: Infusion of dried blossoms 1 – 4 cups per day
Tincture of dried blossoms 15 – 25 drops, 1 – 4 times a day
“Cautions: Overconsumption of Red Clover’s coumarins can lead to a breakdown of red blood cells and increases risk of hemorrhage. Excessive use might increase uterine weight in females who no longer have their ovaries; at least, that’s what happens to sheep.”
Excerpted from:
The Earthwise Herbal, A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants
The Book of Herbal Wisdom, Using Plants as Medicines
Both by Matthew Wood
“The flavor of this common pasture flower is sweet, the temperature cool and moist. As a consequence, Red Clover may be looked upon as a nutritive tonic, soothing to dry, irritable tissues. I have found that when it is needed the skin is usually dry. Red Clover has a special affinity for the glands of the body, so that it is a remedy for swollen parotids (mumps), salivary gland congestion or excess secretion, lymphatic congestion, and other swollen, puffed up problems with glands. In addition, it thins the blood, like other members of the clover clan that possess natural coumarins.
“Red Clover is associated with conditions where the body walls off the offending matter, making a hard glandular cyst or node. Sometimes there might be a few along the course of a lymphatic drainage duct. Sometimes these cysts break open, especially in the sinuses, resulting in the sudden appearance of fever, sinus drainage, lung drainage. These cases are distinct in that they come on suddenly, without prior fever or sickness then last for months. Red Clover will even help encyst cancerous tissue.
“Herbalist Dorothy Hall explains that it is the remedy for encysted glands, where the body encysts or calcifies around a swelling in order to isolate toxic materials. A single swollen gland may remain for a long time or it may suddenly break open, releasing a trail of noxious materials which cause an ongoing pernicious fever that is difficult to track down to a source. Red Clover has an affinity to the glands about the neck, under the ears towards the back of the neck. Here it should be compared with Cleavers. However, it tends towards single swollen glands, not numerous swellings, like Cleavers. It has an affinity to the parotids and the salivary glands in the back of the mouth.
“SPECIFIC INDICATIONS: Dry tear ducts; salivary glands, dry, calcifications in the glands; profuse flow of saliva; hard, swollen, encysted glands; mastitis, encysted glands of the breast from mastitis; dry skin, insufficient secretion; cancer.”
Excerpted from:
Elementary Treatise in Herbology
By Dr. Edward E. Shook
“The nature of legumes, which are the peas, beans, and clovers, is principally to supply calcium to the system. There is a constant wastage of cells and tissues, and as the elements and compounds of which the body is composed are used up by the process of living, they are thrown out of the organism through the bowels, renal organs, skin and lungs. Calcium forms quite a large part of our body. In order to supply a deficiency, we have to administer one or more of the legumes. An easily assimilated form of calcium and other necessary elements is the common Red Clover tops.”
Excerpted from:
The Herbal Handbook, A User’s Guide to Medical Herbalism
By David Hoffmann
(Reference his section on The Skin)
“Red Clover is one of the most useful remedies for children with skin problems. It may be used with complete safety in any case of childhood eczema. It may also be of value in other chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis. While being most useful with children it can also be of value for adults. The expectorant and antispasmodic action give this remedy a role in the treatment of coughs and bronchitis, but especially in whooping cough.”
Excerpted from:
By Michael Vertolli
“Attention has been given to the potential of Red Clover for treating conditions of the female reproductive system. This is somewhat controversial, with some people claiming that the estrogenic actions are potentially dangerous, and others recommending them as a cure-all for reproductive conditions.
“The controversy partly comes from a misunderstanding of the way isoflavones interact with estrogen receptors in our bodies. Isoflavones are partial agonists. This means that they bind to and activate estrogen receptors, but not as strongly as estrogen. As a result, they have the potential to increase estrogen activity in women with low estrogen levels (such as during menopause), but they tend to decrease estrogen activity in women with high estrogen levels because they compete with estrogen for access to receptor sites. (Although this reduces some of the negative consequences of too much estrogen, the effect is largely symptomatic and it is necessary to address the underlying causes of high estrogen levels. This might involve working with appropriate female reproductive herbs or addressing sources of estrogenic toxins, such as those found in drinking water, plastics used in food and beverage containers, and agricultural chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides). Where estrogenic toxins are an issue, the detoxifying action of Red Clover can help eliminate them from our bodies.
“Red Clover is very effective for conditions in which there is an overlap between toxicity and hormonal factors. This includes premenstrual acne, breast swelling and tenderness, fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, and prostate inflammation.
“The controversy concerning the use of Red Clover for the treatment of cancer is twofold. Firstly, some proponents of its use have suggested that it is effective enough to be used on its own. This is not likely to produce sufficient results. Secondly, some of the types of cancer for which Red Clover has been traditionally used include cancers of the breast, uterus, ovaries, and prostate, for which estrogenic activity is considered to be contraindicated. However, Red Clover can be very helpful in these kinds of cancers because of its regulating effect on estrogen levels, as long as some measure is taken to address the underlying causes of the high estrogen levels when it is a factor.
“Red Clover is a very safe herb; however, it is best if detoxifying herbs such as this one are not used on a regular basis by pregnant and nursing women, as these are not appropriate times to be detoxifying.”
CHERYL’S HERBS OFFERS:
Red Clover Blossom Liquid Extract
Red Clover Blossom Glycerin Extract
6/29/14
Compiled by Linda Hall