G. Sheela Joy and Philomena George
According to a recent report nearly 42 per cent Indian kids are malnourished and stunted. The aim of our project was to develop nutraceutical products using alfalfa as one of the components to overcome undernourishment particularly among women and children. The seeds of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) contain more nutritional property when compared with other leguminous seeds. It contains 18.9% of protein when compared with egg (13.1%), milk (3.3%) and beef (16.5%). This paper reports the investigation results of phytochemical analysis of alfalfa seed extracts using the procedure of Sadasivam and Manickam (2009). The presence of proteins, carbohydrates, saponins, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, flavonoids etc. was observed in sprouted alfalfa seeds extracted by solvents such as ethanol, petroleum and chloroform. The presences of proteins, carbohydrates, saponins, alkaloids etc were confirmed by the present investigation. Thus the cost effective nutraceutical product containing alfalfa along with other cereals and pulses would serve the humanity to fight undernourishment in an easy and economical way.
