Your mother told you to eat vegetables to be healthy. The American Institute for Cancer Research advises a diet high in fruits and vegetables to reduce your cancer risks by as much as 30 percent. Why are fruits and vegetables so good for you? Part of the answer lies in their chlorophyll content.
Plants have been fighting disease-causing organisms for longer than humans. They have developed a wide array of very effective chemical defenses that may work as well for people.
Chlorophyll, the chemical that makes plants green, is in most fruits and vegetables. For people, chlorophyll has many beneficial properties such as supporting the production of red blood cells, reducing cholesterol and blood pressure, and promoting a strong immune system [1–4]. Chlorophyll is known to resist bacterial growth and induce the body to produce enzymes that protect against cancer [5,6]. It forms molecular complexes with some chemicals, such as aflatoxin [7], which are known to or suspected of causing cancer, and in so doing, blocks their carcinogenic effect.
But Americans consume only about three servings of fruits and vegetables daily—far fewer than the 5 to 15 servings that are recommended. [8] Additionally, the chlorophyll in foods varies in quality and quantity, and is degraded by food processing, cooking, and digestion. Until Americans change their diet, a compromise solution to improved health may be a daily dietary supplement of chlorophyll.
As a dietary supplement, there are a number of products labeled as containing chlorophyll. Natural chlorophyll, however, is not commonly available due to its chemical instability. In plants, the chlorophyll is protected by the cell walls. So, during the digestive process, the body must break down the cell walls to access the chlorophyll, which limits the amount of chlorophyll available to the body.
To address the stability issue, some products labeled "natural chlorophyll" consist of whole-plant alfalfa. However, it is difficult for the body to use natural chlorophyll since it is fat-soluble. In order for the body to use fat-soluble chemicals, the chemicals must become water-soluble by combining with proteins, generated by the body, to enter and be transported in the water-based bloodstream.
Dietary supplements labeled as chlorophyll actually consist of chlorophyllin, which is a semi-synthetic mixture of water-soluble salts that are derived from chlorophyll. Many of the compounds in commercially available chlorophyllin have no biological benefits, and some are actually toxic. Further, the exact chemical content of commercially available chlorophyllin is variable due to the variable starting material—usually alfalfa—and due to an imprecise extraction process, which was developed to produce chlorophyllin as a food coloring and not as a dietary supplement.
Through detailed, long-term studies, it was found that almost all the biological benefits of chlorophyll come from only three compounds [4]. Not surprisingly, only certain components of these constituents provide health benefits and are water-soluble. Both the mixture of these chlorophyll components and the method for extracting them are patented. The mixture is commercially available as "radachlorophyll."
Studies on radachlorophyll show an additional benefit that supports the cancer-fighting properties reported for chlorophyll and chlorophyllin. Because the chemical structure of some components of radachlorophyll resemble components of the body's cells, cancerous tumors seeking nutrients are drawn to it. Since radachlorophyll is an inhibitor of abnormal-cell growth [4], tumor growth is slowed.
So, Mom was right—eat your vegetables! In addition to chlorophyll, vegetables and fruits contain many health-promoting vitamins, micronutrients, and fiber. Restaurants are offering more and more salads on their menus, and snacking on fruit instead of chips or cookies is a good way to keep calories down. Grocery stores carry a wide array of crisp and colorful produce for you to choose from. But if you still aren't meeting the recommended number of servings, you may want to consider a dietary chlorophyll supplement.
References:
1. E. G. Snyder, "Bacteriostatic substance and process for making the same," U. S. Patent 2, 274, 101 (Feb. 24, 1942)
2. E. A. Allen, "New porphyrinic and chlorophyllic and compositions and process therefore," U. S. Patent 3, 102, 891 (Sept. 3, 1963)
3. J. Howell Hughes and A. L. Latner, "Chlorophyll and hemoglobin regeneration after hemorrhage" Journal of Physiology 86, 388-395 (1936)
4. V. Reshetnickov et al. "Photosensitizer and method for production thereof," U. S. Patent 6,969,765 November 29 (2005)
5. J. W. Fahey et al. "Chlorophyll, chlorophyllin and related tetrapyrroles are significant inducers of mammalian phase 2 cytoprotective genes," Carcinogenesis 26/7, 1247-1255 (2005)
6. E. G. Vakulovskaya, "Photodynamic therapy and fluorescent diagnostics of head and neck cancer with second-generation photosensitizers," Proc. of SPIE 5973, 81-86 (2005).
7. P. A. Egner et al. "Chlorophyllin intervention reduces aflatoxin-DNA adducts in individuals at high risk for liver cancer." PNAS 98 14601-14606 (2001)
8. Harvard School of Public Health, "Fruits and Vegetables" http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fruits.html
Dr. Aland K. Chin is a physicist with an interest in nutrition. He is the CEO of TryAls, LLC (www.tryals.com) that sells radachlorophyll-based dietary supplements.
[Editor's note: There are many other healthful factors in fruit and vegetables in addition to chlorophyll.]
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