Benefits of Wheatgrass

 

Wheatgrass and wheatgrass juice are excellent ways to get dark greens in the diet.  Pound for pound, wheatgrass is more than twenty times denser in nutrients than other choice vegetables.  Since it is considered a vegetable in the grass stage, wheatgrass is safe for people with wheat allergies.  Juicing unlocks even more nutrients from wheatgrass, making them more concentrated and usable to the cells of the body.

Dr. Ann Wigmore, proponent of a "living foods diet", has embraced the benefits of wheatgrass in her teachings and writing.  According to Dr. Wigmore, wheatgrass has an exceptional ability to both nourish and detoxify the body. 

One of the ingredients with major benefit in wheatgrass is chlorophyll, which has the ability to draw toxins from the body like a magnet.  Considered the "blood of plants", chlorophyll can soothe and heal tissues internally.  The chlorophyll in wheatgrass is high in oxygen and light energy, which can provide the brain and body tissues with an optimal environment in which to function.  The chlorophyll in wheatgrass also has antibacterial properties, which can stop the development of harmful bacteria in the body.

Wheatgrass juice has external benefits as well.  It can be used as a scalp treatment to restore luster to hair, as a skin cleanser and astringent, and as a sinus treatment.

Wheatgrass juice can also be added to bath water to stimulate circulation, and it can be applied topically to help heal cuts and bruises.  In addition, gargling with wheatgrass juice can ease a sore throat.

A major benefit of taking wheatgrass juice is that it is easily digested with little energy.  Wheatgrass provides crude chlorophyll from a living plant, which is the most effective way to gain the full therapeutic benefits of chlorophyll.  Just an ounce of wheatgrass juice per day provides a host of benefits, while a therapeutic program to treat a specific condition or illness may include two or three ounces.  It is a complete food with no side effects.  Many people grow their own organic wheatgrass and use juicers to make their own juice.

 

One Shot of Wheatgrass Juice

 

• One ounce contains 103 vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
• One ounce of wheatgrass juice represents as much nutritional value as approximately 2.5 pounds of fresh green vegetables.
• Wheatgrass juice is high in chlorophyll.
• It is very high in vitamins A, B-Complex, C, E and K.
• Wheatgrass juice is a natural source of laetrile (B-17).
• It contains beta-carotene, which is found in red, green and yellow pigmented fruits and vegetables.  Beta-carotene acts as a scavenger against harmful molecules flowing naturally through the body or through toxins inhaled from cigarette smoke, air pollution and other damaging sources.
• Wheatgrass cleanses, purifies and feeds the body by activating the white blood cells, which boost the body's immune system.
• Wheatgrass juice is also beneficial for people who need to lose weight or cleanse their bodies.

According to the American Cancer Society, proponents of wheatgrass claim that it can help cure:

• Bronchitis (and other respiratory conditions)
• Fever
• Infection
• Skin disorders
• Digestive disorders

Some of the superior qualities of wheatgrass and the juice that can be extracted from its blades include the following:

• Increases red blood-cell count and lowers blood pressure. It cleanses the blood, organs and gastrointestinal tract of debris. Wheatgrass also stimulates metabolism and the body’s enzyme systems by enriching the blood. It also aids in reducing blood pressure by dilating the blood pathways throughout the body.

• Stimulates the thyroid gland, correcting obesity, indigestion, and a host of other complaints.

• Restores alkalinity to the blood. The juice’s abundance of alkaline minerals helps reduce over-acidity in the blood. It can be used to relieve many internal pains, and has been used successfully to treat peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and other complaints of the gastrointestinal tract.

• Is a powerful detoxifier, and liver and blood protector. The enzymes and amino acids found in wheatgrass can protect us from carcinogens like no other food or medicine. It strengthens our cells, detoxifies the liver and bloodstream, and chemically neutralizes environmental pollutants.

• Fights tumors and neutralizes toxins. Recent studies show that wheatgrass juice has a powerful ability to fight tumors without the usual toxicity of drugs that also inhibit cell-destroying agents. The many active compounds found in grass juice cleanse the blood and neutralize and digest toxins in our cells.

• Contains beneficial enzymes. Whether you have a cut finger you want to heal or you desire to lose five pounds…enzymes must do the actual work. The life and abilities of the enzymes found naturally in our bodies can be extended if we help them from the outside by adding exogenous enzymes, like the ones found in wheatgrass juice. Don’t cook it. We can only get the benefits of the many enzymes found in grass by eating it uncooked. Cooking destroys 100 percent of the enzymes in food.

• Has remarkable similarity to our own blood. The second important nutritional aspect of chlorophyll is its remarkable similarity to hemoglobin, the compound that carries oxygen in the blood. Dr. Yoshihide Hagiwara, president of the Hagiwara Institute of Health in Japan, is a leading advocate for the use of grass as food and medicine. He reasons that since chlorophyll is soluble in fat particles, and fat particles are absorbed directly into the blood via the lymphatic system, that chlorophyll can also be absorbed in this way. In other words, when the “blood” of plants is absorbed in humans it is transformed into human blood, which transports nutrients to every cell of the body.

• When used as a rectal implant, reverses damage from inside the lower bowel. An implant is a small amount of juice held in the lower bowel for about 20 minutes. In the case of illness, wheatgrass implants stimulate a rapid cleansing of the lower bowel and draw out accumulations of debris.

• Externally applied to the skin can help eliminate itching almost immediately.

• Will soothe sunburned skin and act as a disinfectant. Rubbed into the scalp before a shampoo, it will help mend damaged hair and alleviate itchy, scaly, scalp conditions.

• Is soothing and healing for cuts, burns, scrapes, rashes, poison ivy, athlete’s foot, insect bites, boils, sores, open ulcers, tumors, and so on. Use as a poultice and replace every two to four hours.

• Works as a sleep aide. Merely place a tray of living wheatgrass near the head of your bed. It will enhance the oxygen in the air and generate healthful negative ions to help you sleep more soundly.

• Enhances your bath. Add some to your bath water and settle in for a nice, long soak.

• Sweetens the breath and firms up and tightens gums. Just gargle with the juice.

• Neutralizes toxic substances like cadmium, nicotine, strontium, mercury, and polyvinyl chloride.

• Offers the benefits of a liquid oxygen transfusion since the juice contains liquid oxygen. Oxygen is vital to many body processes: it stimulates digestion (the oxidation of food), promotes clearer thinking (the brain utilizes 25% of the body’s oxygen supply), and protects the blood against anaerobic bacteria. Cancer cells cannot exist in the presence of oxygen.

• Turns gray hair to its natural color again and greatly increases energy levels when consumed daily.

• Is a beauty treatment that slows down the aging process when the juice is consumed. Wheatgrass will cleanse your blood and help rejuvenate aging cells, slowing the aging process way down, making you feel more alive right away. It will help tighten loose and sagging skin.

• Lessens the effects of radiation. One enzyme found in wheatgrass, SOD, lessens the effects of radiation and acts as an anti-inflammatory compound that may prevent cellular damage following heart attacks or exposure to irritants.

• Restores fertility and promotes youthfulness.

• Can double your red blood cell count just by soaking in it. Renowned nutritionist Dr. Bernard Jensen found that no other blood builders are superior to green juices and wheatgrass. In his book “Health Magic Through Chlorophyll” he mentions several cases where he was able to double the red blood cell count in a matter of days merely by having patients soak in a chlorophyll-water bath. Blood building results occur even more rapidly when patients drink green juices and wheatgrass regularly.

Wheatgrass nutrients

On a macronutrient and micronutrient level (fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals), wheatgrass doesn’t seem like a health food to get excited about. A typical one-ounce serving contains only seven calories, no fat and virtually no carbohydrates and protein. Wheatgrass contains no essential omega-3 fatty acids nor does it have much vitamin content with the exception of 7 percent of the daily value (DV) of vitamin C. A one-ounce shot also contains 10 percent DV of iron, but only a trace amount of any other well-known vitamins and minerals.

So why all the hoopla over wheatgrass? Chlorophyll — the green pigment that plays a critical role in photosynthesis, allowing plants to absorb energy from the sun — is touted by natural health advocates as an all-star health compound that increases the blood’s oxygen content.

It’s the chlorophyll, wheatgrass advocates claim, that helps rid the body of toxins, strengthens immunity and improves the micro-flora ecology of the digestive tract.

Is there any proof to back these claims?

Many cancer survivors swear by wheatgrass. But is consuming wheatgrass any more effective than, say, eating copious amounts of fresh vegetables? To date there is little scientific evidence to support wheatgrass’ nutritional merits. According to New York University’s Langone Medical Center, a small study of 24 patients with ulcerative colitis concluded that those who took a wheatgrass supplement improved their conditions versus those who took a placebo.

Another small study in the journal Indian Pediatrics concluded that patients with a form of anemia (thalassemia) required fewer blood transfusions after consuming 100 milliliters of wheatgrass daily.

An Israeli study of 60 patients with breast cancer concluded that wheatgrass juice may reduce myelotoxicity and chemotherapy dosage. The study’s preliminary results need confirmation upon further testing.

One shot of wheat grass = 2 pounds of vegetables?

Several natural health articles and websites claim that consuming two ounces of wheatgrass contains the same nutritional composition as several servings of vegetables. But no clinical trials support this claim or other validations of wheatgrass’ positive effects on tumor shrinkage, prevention of heart disease and diabetes, or its role in the elimination of heavy metals from tissues.

A natural health website claims that Bernard Jensen, a naturopath and chiropractor who passed away in 2001 at the age of 92, wrote several natural health books and claimed that he was able to double the red blood cell count of his patients by having them soak in a chlorophyll bath. However, there are no medical studies to support Jensen’s.

Dr. Chris Reynolds, an Australian-based doctor who goes by the alias "Dr. Wheatgrass," tells Mother Nature Network that he’s had tremendous success over the last 18 years in his practice by having his patients take a chlorophyll-free wheatgrass sprout extract.

But isn’t chlorophyll supposed to be the compound that gives wheatgrass its healing properties?

“Although chlorophyll is essential for keeping us all breathing, it has little if any physiological or positive effect on human health,” says Reynolds in an email. “The benefits of wheatgrass are largely biological, not nutritional as most purveyors of wheatgrass in its various forms would have one believe.”

Reynolds argues that there is plenty of evidence to support wheatgrass extract’s role in supporting biological functions, including one preliminary study in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research, which suggests that fermented wheatgrass extract “exerts significant antitumor activity.” The study concludes that the extract requires further evaluation as a candidate for clinical combination drug regimens.

Wheatgrass is one of the most potently healthy substances on earth. Yet for some reason it is still not mainstream – even though there are thousands of wheatgrass benefits that are so clear and felt so quickly. Since I’ve been using wheatgrass I’ve noticed my energy levels go sky high, my skin clear up and colds, coughs and illnesses disappear forever – and these are just a few of the wheatgrass benefits I’ve noticed! Others have seen their gray hairs vanish, Rosacea clear up, bad breath subside, allergies clear up and a whole lot more.

Wheatgrass benefits are so easy to achieve and feel because:

• 30mls of freshly squeezed wheatgrass juice (a wheatgrass shot!) is equivalent in nutritional value to 1kg of leafy green vegetables
• Wheatgrass contains over 90 minerals, including high concentrations of the most alkaline minerals: potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium
• It contains the essential enzymes: Protease (assists in protein digestion), Cytochrome Oxidase (a powerful anti oxidant), Amylase (facilitates digestion), Lipase (a fat splitting enzyme), Transhydrogenase (strengthens the heart muscle) & Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) (found in all body cells and is known for its ability to lessen the effect of radiation and slow cellular aging)
• Just one teaspoon of Wheat Grass powder, weighing a mere 3.5 grams, is nutritionally equal to an entire spinach salad weighing a full 50 grams – it packs a punch!
• Wheatgrass has more vitamin C than oranges and twice the vitamin A as carrots!
• Wheat grass juice helps your body to build red blood cells which carry oxygen to every cell. By increasing the oxygenation the body you can help offset smog and carbon monoxide and increase your endurance during physical exercise
• It also contains 19 amino acids, the building blocks of protein making this one of the most powerful wheatgrass benefits

Wheatgrass Benefits Explained

Before I get onto where and how to get wheatgrass, I’m going to list out the four main reasons why I love wheatgrass benefits so much:

Wheatgrass Benefits #1: Wheatgrass Builds Blood: Many health experts including Dr Young (pH Miracle) and Steve Meyerowitz (Nature’s Finest Medicine) have highlighted that the chlorophyll molecule in wheatgrass is almost identical to the haemoglobin molecule in human blood. The only difference is that the central element in chlorophyll is magnesium and in haemoglobin it is iron.
Due to this inherent similarity the human body can easily transform chlorophyll into haemoglobin increasing the red blood cell count as well as the blood’s capacity to deliver oxygen and other nutrients to the body’s cells (Hagiwara, 1985) .
Chlorophyll has been shown to build red blood cells quickly, normalise blood pressure by dilating the blood pathways though out the body, destroy poisonous carbon dioxide, release free oxygen and promote higher metabolism and stimulated enzyme systems. On top of all of these benefits, consuming chlorophyll from wheatgrass is a highly effective way to alkalise the blood and energise the body!

Wheatgrass Benefits #2: Wheatgrass Cleanses the Body: Wheatgrass is an extremely beneficial food in terms of both its cleansing capabilities. The contents of wheatgrass juice and powder (green drink) are reported to be within the region of approximately 100 separate elements with scientists dubbing it a ‘complete food’. According to ‘The Wheatgrass Book’ (Wigmore, 1985), just 140g of fresh wheatgrass offers the same nutritional value as over 3kg’s of fresh green vegetables! Thats a great way to get your daily fresh vegetable quota rocking – all from one wheatgrass shot.
Wheatgrass is a great source of vitamins B, C, E and carotene which are hugely effective in destroying and eliminating free radicals and cleansing the body. Wheatgrass is also highly regarded for its ability to cleanse the blood, organs and gastrointestinal tract.
Because it is also high in saponin, wheatgrass offers excellent support to the lymphatic system, helping to carry away hundreds and thousands of toxins from the cells of the body. Kulvinskas (Survival into the 21st Century, 1975) wheatgrass helps to ‘detoxify the body by increasing the elimination of hardened mucous, crystallised acids and solidified, decaying faecal matter…It is the fastest, surest way to eliminate internal waste and provide an optimum nutritional environment’.
These are just some of the cleansing wheatgrass benefits, and I have barely scratched the surface with regards to listing its nutritional content. Put most simply, whether you are looking to undertake a formal cleanse, or simply try to add more nutrition to your diet – these reasons alone are enough to consider adding wheatgrass to your daily lifestyle.

Wheatgrass Benefits #3: Wheatgrass Has High Amino Acid Content: You may have heard the expression before that – amino acids are the building blocks of protein. They are absolutely essential to our growth and cell regeneration. It is the astonishingly high amino acid content in wheatgrass that is leading to many bodybuilders and gym-goers incorporating fresh (a wheatgrass shot) or wheatgrass powder into their daily routine.
Wheatgrass benefits are so impactful because it is a complete protein and contains, amongst others, the following amino acids: arginine, serine, absenisic, lysine, aspartic acid, glycine, alanine, methionine, leucine, tryptophane, phenylalanine, and valine.
Wheatgrass Benefits #4: Wheatgrass Fights and Protects Against Illness: Organic wheatgrass powders and juices are an extremely effective way of boosting the body’s immune system to fight against and recover from illnesses and ailments. Wheatgrass is a great source of beta carotene, contains most of the B vitamins and vitamins C, E, H and K, and also contains over 90 different minerals and 19 amino acids. It also contains several active enzymes which play a major role in breaking down fats, undertaking biological functions and assist hugely in weight loss. Of the 90 minerals found, many of these are very alkalising and include calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and iron.
Many of the health benefits of wheatgrass stem from the fact that it is a living food. Being highly anti-bacterial, consuming wheatgrass will help to alkalise and detoxify the lymph and blood cells, helping the body to rebuild and transport toxins out of the body quickly and effectively.
Again, coming back to the chlorophyll content of wheatgrass – this can protect the body from carcinogens more effectively than any other food. Studies conducted on animals have shown that wheatgrass consumption has reduced the absorption of a number of very serious carcinogens whilst strengthening cells, detoxifying the liver and neutralising polluting elements within the blood.

But I thought wheat was acidifying?
Good question. The simple answer is: wheat is acidifying. The fully grown, harvested, stored, milled and prepared wheat plant is highly acidifying. But as with almost every grain, when sprouted it is very alkaline, and this is certainly the case with wheatgrass.

Where to Get Wheatgrass

There are three main ways to incorporate wheatgrass into your life. There are pro’s and con’s (sort of) of each, and getting a bit of each is probably best to get the full and awesome wheatgrass benefits explained above!
Wheatgrass Supplements
Wheatgrass (and other grass) supplements are powdered greens, condensed down, that you simply mix with water and drink! There are many, many, grass supplements out there so make sure you pick one that works for you. Here are my main tips to make sure you’re getting a good one, and after that it is really down to taste!

• Make sure it is organic
• Make sure it is powdered juice, not just powdered plant
• Make sure it isn’t heat-dried
• Make sure there are no fruits or sweeteners added
• Make sure it doesn’t contain spirulina or any other algae, which are acidifying

It is also good to aim for a mix of grasses, alongside wheatgrass to get an even wider range of health benefits.
Here are my top three wheatgrass supplements:

Sweet Wheat: This is the original and probably the best organic freeze dried wheatgrass powder on the market.
The best wheatgrass powder benefit is that it contains ONLY the juice and provides an extraordinary balance of all the vital nutrients and minerals the body can use. One teaspoon of Sweet Wheat is roughly equivalent to one to two ounces a fresh wheatgrass shot. One ounce of wheatgrass juice equals the nutritional equivalent of 1.5 pounds of organic vegetables.

Dr Young’s Power Plants: Dr Young is the world authority on the alkaline diet, so when he makes supplements, you tend to sit up and notice. This is a 4th generation green drink (he created the 1st too – SuperGreens) containing high quantities of wheatgrass, alongside barley grass, shave grass, dog grass and the powdered juice of vegetables such as broccoli, celery, spinach and more.

MegaGreens: a highly concentrated blend of 34 superfoods, 17 amino acids, vegetables, minerals, vitamins, omega oils, enzymes and more that will completely revolutionise your training. The dense hit of nutrients from each serve delivers instant and sustained energy and provides your body with the tools it needs for weight loss, muscle growth, rehydration, repair and replenishment.
By infusing your body with easily absorbed nutrients, omega oils & amino acids (and with only 3 calories per serve) Mega Greens gives your body the fuel it needs to burn fat and build muscle.

Fresh Wheatgrass

Buying your wheatgrass fresh from a juice bar is also a great way to get your wheatgrass health fix! Make sure they snip and juice the grass right in front of you though! I’ve seen some sneaky bars in Sydney having it delivered, already juiced! Pretty much all of the benefits are gone if you don’t have it fresh.
Having your wheatgrass freshly juiced is a great way to feel the instant energy hit, it is so noticeable!
Growing Your Own Wheatgrass
And finally, you can grow and juice your own! This is great fun, not all that time consuming, and not all that expensive either! All you need are:

• Some space
• Wheatgrass seeds
• Sprouting trays or an automatic sprouter (such as an EasyGreen)
• Patience
• A pair of scissors
• A masticating or manual juicer
In that order.
Note, you can’t grow wheatgrass in a standard sprouter (such as this) and you can’t juice wheatgrass in a standard juicer (such as this). But having said that, the masticating juicers (such as this Hurom) are far better quality in my opinion anyway, you you’re better off buying one of these anyway.