High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. When cholesterol levels in your blood are high, it can build up in the walls of your arteries. Over time, this buildup will cause "hardening of the arteries." Arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the heart is slowed down or blocked. The nutritionally powerful alfalfa sprout appears to be growing rapidly as a recognized food in the fight to lower cholesterol and C-reactive protein levels. At the same time alfalfa sprouts have been show to increase HDL (good) cholesterol, which tends to carry cholesterol away from the arteries.