Tea
Red clover tea
Red clover stands in every verge and meadow, and the pink flower heads taste faintly sweet, like a very distant honey.
It is used for hot flushes, and the research is mixed: some trials show a clear effect, others find none. There is a good explanation for that, and it is worth knowing, because it decides whether the tea works for you.
Red clover''s active compounds must be converted by bacteria in the gut before the body can use them. Without the right bacteria, the flowers pass through you leaving almost nothing behind. So drink the tea alongside something living. Lactic acid bacteria, a bowl of yoghurt, kefir, or a spoonful of your own sauerkraut.
Pick the heads when newly opened and still living pink. Once they brown at the edge, they are past.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp dried red clover flowers
- 250 ml boiling water
- Something living alongside: yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut or a probiotic
Equipment
- Strainer or tea infuser
- Cup
- Plate to cover with
Method
- 1
Pour 250 ml boiling water over 2 tsp dried red-clover flowers, steep 10-15 minutes, drink 1-2 cups daily.
Dosage
1-2 cups daily, together with or close to something fermented.
Give it at least 6 weeks before judging. If it has not worked by then, it probably will not for you, and that is not because you did anything wrong.
Shelf life
Dried flowers keep 1 year, dark and airtight. Keep the pink colour, brown flowers have lost their effect.
Safety
Red clover contains isoflavones, which act like oestrogen. If you have or have had breast cancer, uterine cancer or another hormone-sensitive condition, do not drink it without speaking to your doctor.
If you take hormone therapy, tamoxifen or the contraceptive pill, ask your doctor. The isoflavones can affect how they work.
Red clover can be mildly blood-thinning. If you take anticoagulants, or face surgery, mention it.
Not during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Do not forage at roadsides or on sprayed fields. Clover takes up a great deal from the soil.
Hot flushes that disturb your sleep night after night are worth discussing with a doctor. Treatment exists, and it is not something to endure simply because it is natural.
How the herbs work
Red clover contains isoflavones, formononetin and daidzein among them, similar enough to the body''s own oestrogen to bind in the same places. As your own production falls in menopause, they can soften the swing.
But they only really work once gut bacteria have converted them into a compound called equol. Only about a quarter to a third of us carry the flora that does this efficiently, and that is probably the whole explanation for why the trials contradict each other: they have mixed equol producers and non-producers into the same group.
That is why it makes sense to drink the tea alongside lactic acid bacteria, yoghurt, kefir or sauerkraut. It is not proven that a non-producer can be turned into a producer, but you give the plant its best conditions, and it costs nothing to try.
The content here is general knowledge and folk herbal lore, not medical treatment. In illness, pregnancy, breastfeeding or alongside medication: always talk to your doctor first.