Wheatgrass is often found growing in trays from sprouted wheat berries in health food stores and juice bars. Proponents of the supplement believe that it contains properties that can provide optimal health, especially when cut fresh and juiced. Dried and powdered forms are also available in capsule form, and there are pre-bottled extracts, tinctures and juices.
History
Anne Wigmore, founder of the Hippocrates Institute--an organization committed to researching and promoting natural and complementary health care--introduced the idea of using wheatgrass as a nutritional supplement. Through her observations of animals eating grass as a digestive aid, she theorized that humans could also get the same benefits. She studied under her grandmother, a village doctor in a small town in Lithuania, who she noted also used grasses to help cure patients' ills.
Benefits
Wigmore maintained that compounds in wheatgrass help improve the actions of almost all body organs and systems, especially the liver, thyroid and cardiovascular system. Drinkers of wheatgrass claim that it helps increase metabolism while suppressing the appetite, leading to better weight management. As wheatgrass is high in antioxidants, it may help combat free radicals that cause disease, aging and overall malaise. Some believe that chlorophyll in wheatgrass provides the same benefits as hemoglobin in the blood, and helps deliver more oxygen to cells, improving energy and feelings of well-being.
Wheatgrass Diet
Although most enthusiasts use wheatgrass as a regular supplement, some people follow a full-blown wheatgrass diet. This diet is essentially a raw foods diet in which all dairy, meat and cooked products are eliminated. Followers of the diet claim that it can shrink tumors and extend cancer sufferers' lives. They also maintain that a wheatgrass diet offers constant detoxification of the digestive system, hence strengthening immunity.
Expert Insight
The American Cancer Society asserts that there is no available scientific evidence that wheatgrass can cure or prevent any disease. One study, in the "Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology," suggested that wheatgrass may help in the treatment of ulcerative colitis---a digestive condition that causes chronic inflammation of the large intestine. In this study, published in 2002, lead author E. Ben-Arye concluded that wheatgrass, when coupled with standard medical care, is a safe and effective treatment that helped reduce symptoms of the disease.
Considerations
The Food and Drug Administration categorizes wheatgrass as a supplement, and thus does not provide quality control or regulation of manufacturers' claims. Wheatgrass is a healthy supplement that includes numerous vitamins and minerals. Because it has no known side effects, it is perfectly safe to ingest daily as part of a healthy diet emphasizing fruits and vegetables. Relying on it alone to heal specific conditions, however, is not recommended by the American Cancer Society.
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