Chlorophyll: The Wonder Green of Life

Chlorophyll has numerous health benefits. And while mostly forgotten over the last 70 years, the wonders of this 'green magic' are slowly but surely reemerging.

Chlorophyll Is The Root of Life

Deep within every photosynthesizing plant cell on this planet is the green pigment, chlorophyll. It's used by plants to harness the sun's power, split water molecules and recombine them with carbon dioxide to create stored energy in the form of carbohydrates.

We depend on this green magic for the very food we eat as well as to produce the life-giving gas we breathe, oxygen.

But food and oxygen may not be all that we have chlorophyll to thank for...

Chlorophyll And Human Blood

Chlorophyll is very similar in structure to the pigment that allows our blood to transport oxygen, heme. Both heme and chlorophyll contain a specific chemical structure called a porphyrin ring. In the center of chlorophyll's porphyrin ring is a magnesium atom. In the middle of the heme's ring is iron.

The similarity between chlorophyll and heme doesn't mean that you can just switch them out for each other and make new blood cells. But long-overlooked preliminary research and some more recent case study reports indicate chlorophyll-rich foods and chlorophyll extracts may help increase red blood cell count significantly.[1] [2] Some of the research indicates that chlorophyll supplies the body with porphyrin rings making it easier for the body to manufacture heme, necessary for increasing a healthy red blood cell count.

Chlorophyll's Super Concentrated Cleaning Power

In 1930 Dr. Hans Fisher won a Nobel prize for mapping out heme's molecular structure. When he showed how similar it was to chlorophyll, he touched off a wave of medical research on chlorophyll.

The results captured the public and medical community's attention. Surgeons sang chlorophyll's praises. [3] [4] Dentists noted that kids using chlorophyll-laced toothpaste showed 2-3 times better dental health than kids who used the plain old stuff.[5] [6]Respiratory specialists Drs. Robert Ridpath and T. Carroll Davis used chlorophyll treatments with over 1000 patients. They reported that "There is not a single case in which" chlorophyll didn't help their patients enjoy good respiratory health.[7]

Chlorophyll was soon industrialized and mass produced -- breath mints, toothpaste and even toilet paper were being made with chlorophyll.

Unfortunately, the chlorophyll craze of the 1930's and 40's dissipated with the discovery of antibiotics. Since then, there has been limited medical research on this special green pigment.

And even the documented cases of the 1940's were not conducted carefully as full-scale clinical trials, So we still don't have irrefutable documentation of these many chlorophyll health benefits.

Nonetheless, integrative doctors and medical researchers are returning to chlorophyll's benefits with renewed interest.

In 2005, a group of German researchers published a study in the journal Carcinogenesis, showing that chlorophyll supplementation seemed to be good for the colon. According to the researchers, it seemed that chlorophyll may block the absorption of its look-alike molecule, heme, in the colon, helping to keep the colon walls smooth and healthy.[8]

And research conducted by the Linus Pauling Institute in 2009 showed that both chlorophyll and its metabolite, chlorophyllin, reduced the absorption of the fungal toxin, aflatoxin in human volunteers significantly.[9]

Now these studies are only two - and preliminary ones at that. However, they hint at what's to come. And they echo what I've found case by case in my own practice. I urge my patients to make good use of chlorophyll in their diet. It's like an "internal shower" helping to clean the bowels.

This green magic - found in a higher concentration in chlorella than any other plant - gives your body the "concentrated power of sunlight!"

[1] Kirkman NF. The effect of low-porphyrin diet on erythropoiesis and haemoglobin regeneration. J. Physiol. (I939) 95, 508-5I5 6I2.19:6i2.39 

[2] Jensen, B. Chlorella, Gem Of The Orient. p. 28 

[3] Gruskin B et al. Chlorophyll-Its therapeutic place in acute and suppurative disease: Preliminary report of clinical use and rationale. The American Journal of Surgery. Volume 49, Issue 1, July 1940, Pages 49-55. 

[4] Smith LW et al. Chlorophyll: An experimental study of its water soluble derivatives in wound healing. The American Journal of Surgery. Volume 62, Issue 3, December 1943, Pages 358-369. 

[5] Goldberg, SL. Use of water soluble chlorophyll in oral sepsis: An experimental study of 300 cases.The American Journal of Surgery. Volume 62, Issue 1, October 1943, Pages 117-123. 

[6] Jensen, p. 27 

[7] Jensen, p. 27 

[8] De Vogel J et al. Green vegetables, red meat and colon cancer: chlorophyll prevents the cytotoxic and hyperproliferative effects of haem in rat colon. Carcinogenesis (2005) 26 (2):387-393. 

[9] Jubert C et al. Effects of chlorophyll and chlorophyllin on low-dose aflatoxin B(1) pharmacokinetics in human volunteers. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2009 Dec;2(12):1015-22. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-09-0099. Epub 2009 Dec 1.

About the Author:

By Dr. Michael E. Rosenbaum is a 30-year veteran and widely recognized pioneer in the field of nutritional medicine, alternative healthcare and medical acupuncture. As one of America's most respected experts in natural health and healing, Dr. Rosenbaum has been a frequent lecturer to professional medical groups and has participated in numerous television and radio talk shows. He is also an esteemed member of the Sun Chlorella Advisory Board, which helps guide the medical innovation behind Sun Chlorella products.