June, 2007

Chlorophyll: Is it a scientific red (green) herring?

Hello Everyone,

Chlorophyll is reputed to heal damaged tissue, transport oxygen in the body, have anti-inflammatory properties and “an uplifting effect on the mental and emotional processes…” and many more magical properties. Alas, chlorophyll is a green pigment that performs none of these marketing myths. It’s job in nature is to provide energy for photosynthesis and has little if any biological effect in humans. This is a pet subject of mine (1), (2).

In the late 1930’s a research scientist named George Kohler discovered the Grass Juice Factor in cereal grasses. Comprehensively analysed for its nutritional and other components, this known potent growth and fertility Factor remains unidentified to this day, but almost certainly is responsible for chlorophyll’s misplaced fame.

Around the 30's, wheatgrass powder was the biggest selling dietary supplement in North America. This popularity helped fuel the huge demand for a safe, green pigment to artificially colour foods and other goods such as toothpaste. Manufacturers wanted to use pure chlorophyll, but this was impossible because:

1. Natural chlorophyll is unstable. It oxidizes with time and turns brown. Without the green colour, it is essentially useless.
2. The cost of synthesising such a large complex molecule was prohibitive.

So an enterprising company in the U.S. came up with an ingenious idea that would create a green marketing flood. Subsequently, millions of research dollars would be poured down the drain.

They produced a "stable" chlorophyll “substitute” called sodium copper chlorophyllin. For some reason, they assumed this crossbreed molecule would not only retain its green colour but display all the bioactive properties of chlorophyll as well.

The “chlorophyll” solution they used was derived from cereal grass juice. They then supposedly “replaced” the core magnesium ion in chlorophyll with a copper ion which turned the mixture green. But they forgot about some important bioactives in the cereal grass juice. That is, Kohler's Grass Juice Factor.

It was soon noticed that the chlorophyllin solution wasn’t just a colourant, but had extraordinary healing properties. Infected wounds, wound healing, burns, fractures, and numerous other types of tissue damage showed amazing rates of recovery. Scientists assumed these properties were due to chlorophyll but completely overlooked the Grass Juice Factor.

Subsequently, hundreds of medical and scientific studies were performed under the false assumption that chlorophyll is biologically active in humans and animals.

These often very expensive studies continue to this day as does the futile search to determine just how chlorophyll performs its miracles. But it does nothing of the sort. It's a scientific red (green) herring.

How do I know? I use a wheatgrass-based extract that I have seen on numerous occasions to perform many of the healing phenomena mentioned above and more – but my extract does not contain chlorophyll.

This may not be a very nourishing discovery to fresh wheatgrass juice fans, but rest assured you are doing the right thing for your body if you take it daily. But forget the standard chlorophyll line. Thank George Kohler and the Grass Juice Factor.

Kind regards,
Dr. Chris Reynolds.
Melbourne.