Botanical species · safety record

Medicago sativa

The EFSA Compendium of Botanicals holds 24 constituent measurements and 2 adverse-effect records for Medicago sativa. This page reports what those source records contain and how to reach them. It carries no effect estimate, no dose and no recommendation.

Accepted name in source: Medicago sativa L.

24Constituent measurements

2Safety records

5Cited sources

1,014Licensed products (Canada)

Regulatory presence

Health Canada's Licensed Natural Health Products Database holds 1,014 licensed products naming Medicago sativa as a medicinal ingredient, matched on the exact Latin binomial. A licence records that a product met the regulator's requirements for sale in Canada. It is not evidence that the product works.

Extract types on licence

Dry
Extract Type TBA
Fresh
fluid
solid

Source material stated

Aerial (powder)
Aerial parts
Aerial sprouts
Dried aerial part(s)
Dried grass
Dried juice
Flower
Grass(es)

What the records describe

Constituents measured

Plant parts

Preparations

Effect types

Recorded constituents

What analytical work has found in this species, at which plant part and preparation. A measured constituent is a fact about material, not about effect.

Substance	Plant part	Preparation	Concentration	Analytical method	Source
Echimidine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	23.3 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Intermedine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 0.1 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Intermedine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 1.2 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Lasiocarpine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	0.2 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Lycopsamine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 1.2 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Lycopsamine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 1.4 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Monocrotaline	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 3.3 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Monocrotaline	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 6.9 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Monocrotaline	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 0.5 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Monocrotaline	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 0.2 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Pentacyclic triterpene saponins	Leaves	—	—	Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)	Resolve DOI
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 104.3 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 42.4 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 16.4 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 9.6 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Retrorsine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 16.3 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Retrorsine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 23.1 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Retrorsine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 2.8 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Retrorsine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 189 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Salicylic acid	Leaves	Solvent extraction	≥ 0.034 Percent Area	High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)/Liquid Chromatography (LC)	Resolve DOI
Salicylic acid	Leaves	Solvent extraction	≤ 2.54 Percent Area	High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)/Liquid Chromatography (LC)	Resolve DOI
Senecionine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≤ 27.7 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Senecionine	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	≥ 15.4 Nanogram/gram	UHPLC-MS-MS	Resolve DOI
Canavanine	Unspecified	—	—	Unspecified	No resolvable identifier

Recorded adverse effects

Adverse effects reported in the source literature, most often in animal or laboratory models at a stated preparation and dose.

Effect	Target tissue	Plant part	Preparation	Test organism	Test type	Source
Other toxicities	—	Leaves	—	Animals (as animal)	Not reported	No resolvable identifier
Reproductive	—	Leaves	—	Human (as organism)	Not reported	No resolvable identifier

Cited sources

The literature the compendium cites for this species. Metatron Health has no relationship with these authors or journals and earns nothing from citing them.

Huybrechts, Bart., Callebaut, Alfons. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food and feed on the Belgian market. Food additives and contaminants part a-chemistry analysis control exposure & risk assessment, 2015, vol. 32, no. 11, p. 1939-1951. DOI
Chung, IM., Seigler, D., Miller, DA., Kyung, SH. Autotoxic compounds from fresh alfalfa leaf extracts: Identification and biological activity. Journal of chemical ecology, 2000, vol. 26, no. 1, p. 315-327. DOI
Paparella, Stefania., Tava, Aldo., Avato, Pinarosa., Biazzi, Elisa., Macovei, Anca., Biggiogera, Marco., Carbonera, Daniela., Balestrazzi, Alma. Cell wall integrity, genotoxic injury and PCD dynamics in alfalfa saponin-treated white poplar cells highlight a complex link between molecule structure and activity. Phytochemistry, 2015, vol. 111, p. 114-123. DOI
Khan, Rehman Ullah., Mehmood, Sultan., Khan, Saad Ullah. Toxic effect of common poisonous plants of district Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Pakistan journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 2018, vol. 31, no. 1, p. 57-67.
Meadows, Robin. Bad taste protects fruit flies from eating a toxic amino acid in plants. Plos biology, 2009, vol. 7, no. 6, p. No pp. given.

Boundary

A constituent measurement is a fact about material at a stated preparation, not a statement about what that material does in a person. An adverse-effect or genotoxicity record is an observation reported in a source, most often in an animal or laboratory model. Neither is a Metatron Health conclusion about causality, human risk or benefit, and the absence of a record is not proof that a preparation is safe. Nothing here is diagnosis, prescribing or individual medical care.

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Independent literature