Commonly known and regularly used natural ingredients for good hair health include aloe vera, coconut oil, honey, essential oils and fruit extracts. However, could your hair benefit from Alfalfa?
Alfalfa is believed to be an important way to improve the appearance and feel of hair, but also its growth cycle. Yet it’s highly likely you didn’t know that. That’s because – although you can find shampoos that have alfalfa in them – the best way to use it to improve your hair is to eat it!
As part of our quest to uncover the secrets of good nutrition and the value of making informed choices about your diet, we have ‘combed through’ theories and facts about how alfalfa nourishes and strengthens your hair. Potentially even preventing and stopping hair loss.
We cover the general nutritional advantages of eating Alfalfa in a different article. However, it’s worth emphasising that including it in your diet is highly recommended for a lot of reasons. For now, why is eating alfalfa good for your hair?
What is Alfalfa?
First, here’s a quick overview of what alfalfa is.
Its Latin name is Medicago Sativa. Though it’s part of the legume family, this fast-growing flowering plant is considered to be a herb. You may see it referred to as lucerne in the UK.
Alfalfa has been highly prized for centuries, as it’s a superb source of valuable nutrients for livestock, and its leaves and seeds have human medicinal values. You can also find the leaves dried, to use as tea.
However, it is alfalfa sprouts that are most commonly eaten. As part of salads, toasted and added to sandwiches and wraps, or cooked briefly as an ingredient in stir-fries and stews. Many South Indian dishes include it, and it’s popular in the USA too.
Can you juice alfalfa sprouts? That’s certainly an option, although as it has a distinctive taste it may be better to combine it with other ingredients like apple, spinach, kale, and kiwi, to create smoothies packed with nutritional benefits.
What makes alfalfa good for hair?
Alfalfa contains a range of nutrients associated with hair growth and health. Especially vitamins A, C, E, and K. It also contains significant amounts of copper, folate, and manganese.
There needs to be an important clarification at this point. There is no evidence to suggest eating large amounts of alfalfa – or any food – will immediately boost hair regrowth and create shining, strong tresses overnight!
Especially as it is often the lack of certain nutrients that matters to hair health.
If you eat too few vitamins and minerals, your body directs available amounts to your essential functions – like your cardiovascular system. So, your hair can be one of the first things to show signs of a nutrient shortfall.
Clearly then, by eating alfalfa regularly, you are ensuring that you are not deficient in the essential vitamins and minerals this ‘superfood’ contains. Including the ones that specifically affect your hair.
For example, if you don’t get enough Vitamin A it affects your ability to produce a natural oil called sebum. When this happens, you will be more prone to hair breakage, and dry hair in general.
Making it commonsense to make sure you include foods that contain Vitamin A (like alfalfa) in your diet.
Alfalfa is also an excellent source of antioxidants. These counterbalance the free radicals from your environment that can attack your hair cells (and skin cells). Boost your antioxidants intake by eating alfalfa, and naturally, your hair cells will be healthier and stronger.
These are just some of the ways adding alfalfa to your diet ensures you get a substantial amount of nutrients that make your hair strong, silky and shiny!
Nutrition and hair loss or regrowth
Can alfalfa promote hair growth, or stop hair loss?
The fact you need a well-rounded diet with all essential nutrients to promote healthy growth at a cellular level is not exactly news!
However, interesting work is being done by global medical scientists to back up the ancient beliefs that eating certain things can prevent illnesses and that some foods have a healing effect. From this process, comes the belief that you can both prevent and stop hair-related problems by eating nutrient-rich superfoods like alfalfa.
For instance, a 2019 study found a connection between low levels of vitamin E and severe hair loss due to alopecia areata. You can get a healthy amount of vitamin E by eating alfalfa.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6380979/
Looking at the same hair loss issue (alopecia areata) in 2010, a different study concluded that certain nutritional supplements improved this condition and reduced hair loss.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3819075/
Just to ‘curl’ our minds around this even more, the above are just two relevant studies from a large body of research that suggests you can influence hair growth and hair loss – as well as its appearance and feel – by what you eat.
<b>Cautionary notes about Alfalfa and hair</b>
There is one ‘risk’ factor that could be applied to any nutrition. Too much can be bad for you! To illustrate this, there are studies that suggest if you elevate your levels of vitamin A too high, you can actually trigger hair loss.
Everything in moderation.
Also, you must ensure that when you eat alfalfa sprouts raw, that they are fresh and clean. As with all sprout foodstuffs, they can be a source of salmonella.
There is also a possibility that in some women, alfalfa may ‘mimic’ or interfere with the hormone oestrogen. Leading to potential side effects if you are trying to get pregnant, or trying to prevent pregnancy with birth control pills.
Other uncommon side-effects of eating alfalfa – that still warrant a mention – include the fact boosting levels of vitamin K may impact negatively on the use of blood thinners such as warfarin. It can also lower blood sugar, affecting diabetes control.
Lastly, if you are on medications that increase your sensitivity to sunlight, this can be further heightened by eating this nutrient-rich food option.
If you are taking any medication for a long term health condition, you are always advised to seek medical advice before making significant changes to your diet, including the use of supplements containing alfalfa leaves and seeds.
Otherwise, having ‘brushed up’ on some of the benefits alfalfa brings to your hair, you can ‘head ‘off to buy some!
Additional sources:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/antioxidants/
https://www.livestrong.com/article/298559-how-to-cook-with-alfalfa-sprouts/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318403
interesting reading:
