Like peas and beans, red clover belongs to the family of plants called legumes. Red clover contains substances called isoflavones. Isoflavones are phytoestrogens—compounds similar to the female hormone estrogen.
Historically, red clover was used for a variety of conditions including asthma, whooping cough, cancer, and gout. Today, isoflavone extracts from red clover are most often used as dietary supplements for menopausal symptoms, high cholesterol, or osteoporosis.
The flowering tops of the red clover plant are used to prepare extracts available in tablets or capsules, as well as in teas and liquid forms.
Red Clover in Health Research
There have been several studies of red clover in people, but their results haven’t provided clear evidence of any beneficial effects.
Red Clover Research Summary
Red clover has not been clearly shown to be helpful for any health condition.
Most research indicates that taking red clover does not relieve menopause symptoms such as hot flashes.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is supporting research to develop better methods of identifying active components in red clover and to evaluate possible interactions of red clover with medications.
Red Clover Safety
No serious side effects have been reported in studies that evaluated red clover for various health conditions for up to a year.
Because red clover contains estrogen-like compounds, there’s a possibility that long-term use would increase the risk of women developing cancer of the endometrium (the lining of the uterus). However, short-term studies of women who have taken red clover have not shown harmful changes in the uterine lining.
Red clover may not be safe for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, for children, or for women who have breast cancer or other hormone-sensitive cancers.
Red Clover References
Krause EC, Booth NL, Piersen CE, et al. Red clover. In: Coates PM, Betz JM, Blackman MR, et al., eds. Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Informa Healthcare; 2010:665-679.
Lethaby A, Marjoribanks J, Kronenberg F, et al. Phytoestrogens for menopausal vasomotor symptoms. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2013;(12):CD001395. Accessed at https://www.thecochranelibrary.com(link is external) on April 21, 2015.
Red clover. Natural Medicines Web site. Accessed at naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com/ on April 21, 2015. [Database subscription].
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PubMed Articles About Trifolium pratense
Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)[Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), National Center for Biotechnology Information; [1988] – [cited 2018 Apr 5]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Biochanin A (BCA) is a dietary isoflavone, isolated from the leaves and stems of L and many other herbs of Chinese medicine. Recent findings indicated BCA as a promising drug candidate with diverse bioactive effects. On the purpose of evaluating the possibility of BCA in clinical application, this review is trying to provide a comprehensive summary of the pharmacological actions of BCA. The publications collected from PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Wiley databases were summarized for the last 10 years. Then, the potential therapeutic use of BCA on the treatment of various diseases was discussed according to its pharmacological properties, namely, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-diabetic, and anti-obesity effects as well as neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and osteoprotective effects. BCA might mainly regulate the MAPK, PI3K, NRF2, and NF-kB pathways, respectively, to exert its bioactive effects. However, the limited definitive targets, poor biological availability, and insufficient safety evaluation might block the clinical application of BCA. This review may provide new insights for the development of BCA in the application of related diseases.
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the manifestations of systemic microangiopathy in diabetes. Trifolium alexandrinum extract (TAE) contains biologically active phenolic compounds such as hesperetin (HES) and quercetin, possess various pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative potentials. The present study aimed to assess the therapeutic effects and mechanisms underlying the anti-diabetic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects of HES and quercetin extracted from TAE, and TAE in STZ-induced DN. Male albino rats (170 ± 10 g) were divided into group (1); control rats and groups (2-5); diabetic/HFD were intraperitoneal (i.p.) injected with STZ (35 mg/kg), diabetic rats were randomly classified into STZ, STZ + HES (40 mg/kg), STZ + quercetin (50 mg/kg), and STZ + TAE (200 mg/kg) groups. After 5 weeks, blood and kidney samples were collected for further biochemical, western blotting and histopathological studies. Serum renal functions, renal oxidative status biomarkers and proinflammatory cytokines were determined. The results revealed that there were significant increases in urea, BUN, creatinine, ALP, total protein, albumin, and globulin with a significant decrease in Na and K levels, as well as significant elevation in TBARS, TGF-β, TNF-α, IL-6 and the expression levels of GSK-3β, as well as significant decline in TAC, GSH and CAT levels in STZ-treated group compared to the control rats. The previous deleterious alterations were significantly ameliorated after the treatment of diabetic rats with HES, quercetin and TAE. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that HES, quercetin and TAE could be used as potent therapeutic agents to counter DN through antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic effects.
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PubMed Articles About Trifolium pratense
Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)[Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US), National Center for Biotechnology Information; [1988] – [cited 2018 Apr 5]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
