"the green colouring matter of plants" known as chlorophyll. Chlorophyll
is closely related, chemically, to hemoglobin, "the red colouring matter of the
blood". The basic difference between the two, in fact, is simply that whereas
the molecule constituting the hemoglobin of blood contains, in addition to carbon,
oxygen and nitrogen, the element iron, in the chlorophyll molecule magnesium is
substituted for iron. Blood, of course, is also related to chlorophyll in function.
Chlorophyll is the vital element in the "blood" of the plant, of plant life, serving the
same purposes in the plants economy that hemoglobin does in higher forms of life.
How is Chlorophyll made?
Within the plant molecule of water and carbon dioxide are torn apart-a feat
which the chemist can accomplish only with great difficulty and expense.
First there are only lifeless gas and water; then, presto! these elements are
transformed into living tissue and useful energy. Oxygen is released from the
plant to revitalize the air we breathe. Units of energy, in sugars and other
carbohydrates, are speedily manufactured and stored within the living plant.
Out of the process stems much of what we know as life and growth. Man
consumes the energy as food-both in vegetables and the flesh of herbivorous
animals. He uses it in the form of coal, oil and gas-green vegetables locked up in
the earth for ages."
of chlorophyll. As the writer pointed out at the time: "Don't be
surprised if your doctor tells you that he has never heard of chlorophyll
being used in this way (medicinally). But evidence of chlorophyll's
medicinal value is most encouraging so far. Distinguished medical
specialists report that in 1200 recorded cases they have seen chlorophyll
combat deep-lying infections, and banish common head colds.. More
remarkable, they say, is the way it accomplishes these things-speedily and
effectively, with none of the harsh, irritating effects common to most
antiseptics. Chlorophyll, the healer, is at once powerful and bland-devastating
to germs and yet gentle to the wounded body tissues. Exactly how it works is
still Nature's secret. To the ordinary person the phenomenon seems like green magic.
Chlorophyll, according to another scientist, is associated with the various
oil-soluble vitamin complexes, with vitamins A, E, F and K. (Vitamin F is
more generally referred to as UFA, the principle of the unsaturated fatty
acids proved so essential to health, and with the enzyme phosphatase.)
Antiseptic Effects
The conditions which have been reported as responding favourably to the
administration of chlorophyll include both internal and external infections;
simple and infected wounds and ulcerations; various skin and bone diseases,
peritonitis (inflammation of the membrane lining the stomach cavity,
the viscera), mouth, gum and sinus infections. Chlorophyll has also been
used therapeutically to reduce hypertension, or high blood pressure.
strengthening the walls of cells, may also be due in part to its
other beneficial effects; importantly chlorophyll's ability to
neutralize the metabolic toxin, guanidine, which could be "the
main toxic agent in severe burns. Chlorophyll acts much quicker
than vitamin F in treating burns. It nullifies the pain; the quicker it
is applied after the burn the less severity, for the toxic agents are
destroyed before they do much damage. Chlorophyll applied to
extracted tooth sockets stops the same type of pain-the agonizing,
irritating pain that keeps the patient awake, that is so hard to alleviate
with narcotics."
Nutritional and Healing Properties
Commenting on the nutritional qualities of chlorophyll
Dr. Royal Lee observes: "Another effect attributed to
guanidine is the precipitation of calcium from blood
serum, and it is suspected to be a cause of calcification
of coronary arteries, diffusing in from the muscle-guanidine
being an end product of muscle fatigue. We may consider
that this chlorophyll complex is of much greater importance
than heretofore suspected and that its use by races such as
the Chinese, where arthritis and heart disease is practically
unknown, may be a very important factor in contributing to
the prevention of these diseases so prevalent in this country,
where greens, if eaten at all, are generally cooked and of
questionable quality in the first place."
In a dramatic series of experiments, made to determine
the relative efficiency of various chlorophyll preparations as
healing agents, in comparison with a large number of other
substances widely used for the purpose, the chlorophyll preparations
proved more effective than any of the other-by a wide margin.
"In summary, we note that 67 percent of all wounds treated by one
or another preparation of chlorophyll healed more rapidly than their
controls...it would seem to indicate that chlorophyll does not cause
some biologic response in respect to stimulating cell growth which
can be put to a useful purpose in the many problems associated with
would healing...Of all these agents, only the chlorophyll preparations
consistently showed any statistically significant effect in accelerating
the healing of both traumatic and thermal (heat-caused) wounds."
Natures Miracle Medicine
Of probability the most vital importance in its
significance in the above experiments is the fact
that chlorophyll increases the body's intake of oxygen,
as the result of which the disposal of the metabolic toxin,
carbonic acid, is facilitated with increased efficiency-up to
twenty percent more rapidly.
Chlorophyll, much to the bafflement of early investigators, is
inert in the test tube; that is, it has no antiseptic effects in the
test-tube. It was not until it was realized that it operates in the
above manner that the physiology of its activity was understood.
Its clinical effects are largely explained by this phenomenon.
Perhaps the best indication of the tremendous potentialities of this
substance, chlorophyll, "the green miracle," is offered in an
experiment that took place not long ago.
sealed-literally sealed-into an airtight tank, for a matter of no
less than 57 hours. As we know, normally this would mean
suicide, within minutes. But the man emerged from his air-tight
chamber no worse for the experience.
The secret? Chlorophyll. The tank contained a series of tubes
containing algae. Under the influence of batteries of lamps-what
might be termed synthetic sunlight-the algae were activated in the
process called photosynthesis, in which the single-celled
plants-initiated nutrients essential to their existence, and of course,
used in turn by higher life forms of life for their existence. The man
breathed in the released oxygen and breathed out the metabolic
waste product, carbon dioxide, the carbon and oxygen of which
then become available to the plants, permitting them to product
carbon-containing molecules-a fair exchange between plants and
man that provide the vital essentials for both.
Chlorophyll, in common with miracle-working vitamin C, is
another example of the natural superiority of the contents of
nature's wonderful medicine chest over man-synthesized products,
i.e., safe, harmless, physiologically compatible, free of "side effects"
-incomparably better, more effective.
It certainly appears that in our obsession with the rapid development
of our chemistry in our laboratories we have tended to largely overlook
the value of the products of the laboratory that was here long before our
own laboratories. On the other hand, it must of course be realized that,
paradoxically enough, in order to be in a position to learn the true extent of
nature's gifts it was necessary for us to learn, through laboratory techniques,
their nature. Chlorophyll is an outstanding example of this fact.
Excerpt from NATURE"S MIRACLE MEDICINE CHEST by C. EDWARD BURTIS
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