Wheatgrass (Triticum aestivum), a plant indigenous to Europe and the United States, is a member of a wheat-like grass family known as Poaceae. Wheatgrass can be cultivated outdoors or indoors and is commercially available as a dietary supplement in various forms (capsule, tablet, powder, tincture or extract). The roots and stems of wheatgrass also can be freshly juiced. Popularly available at juice bars and smoothie stands, wheatgrass is purported to have various healing properties and health benefits.
General Considerations and Benefits
Although wheatgrass has been used historically among folk medicine practitioners to treat gout, chronic skin disorders, constipation, cystitis and rheumatic pain, there is limited scientific evidence upholding these claims. Wheatgrass has been alleged to treat several medical conditions including fever, infection, inflammation of the mouth and throat, common cold, coughs and bronchitis, the American Cancer Society reports. It also notes that some people believe wheatgrass acts as a cancer-fighting and cleansing agent, ridding the body of toxins, strengthening the immune system, killing harmful bacteria and shrinking tumors. While the level of clinical evidence is narrow as to the proven health benefits of this plant, wheatgrass has been clinically studied in regards to healthy hemoglobin levels and treatment of ulcerative colitis.
Hemoglobin
PDRHealth explains that chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for giving plants their green color, is found in wheatgrass. Pure juice made from wheatgrass is comprised of 70 percent chlorophyll. Because chlorophyll shares a chemically similar structure to hemoglobin (which is responsible for blood-oxygen transport throughout the body), scientists hypothesize that chlorophyll obtained from internal consumption of wheatgrass improves the supply of oxygen to the body via increased hemoglobin levels. A 2006 study aimed at exploring this hypothesis was reported in the "Journal of Clinical Oncology." This clinical study found that when terminally ill cancer patients were given 30 milliliters of wheatgrass juice daily for six months, their hemoglobin levels increased significantly from baseline.
Ulcerative Colitis
A 2002 clinical study published in the "Scandinavian Journal of Gasteroenterology" found significant positive results when patients with ulcerative colitis were treated with a daily dose (100 ml) of wheatgrass juice for one month. This exploratory regimen allowed for significant reductions in the severity of rectal bleeding and the overall disease activity index in the treatment group as compared to a placebo. Components of the disease activity index included rectal bleeding, number of bowel movements, a global assessment by a physician and a sigmoidoscopic evaluation. Further research may prove helpful in establishment of wheatgrass as an evidence-based treatment option for patients with ulcerative colitis.
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