wheat grass... any science to this fad?

The problem with some people that talk about things like wheatgrass is that they don't normally have scientific proof...yet they try to use scientific terms. They simply shouldn't.We are a wheatgrass juice company and believe firmly that there is something particularly unique about wheatgrass juice. What we understand about wheatgrass juice really isn't over complicated. Essentially, we know: i) it has a broad spectrum of nutrition (compared to other tested foods); ii) being juiced makes it extremely easy to digest and assimilate; and iii) most of us need high quality fuel because we eat diets that include lots of denatured foods that have become nutritionally devoid.At this point in time, science has identified over 3,800 nutrients and recognizes that there may be countless unidentified ones. When you realize this, you understand that the only meaningful measures we have are either validated scientific or personal observations.As a wheatgrass juice supplier, we simply cannot afford to fund scientifically validated studies. What we have done is try to capture customer expereinces by putting a health forum in place that customers can post in directly. You should read these, they are very interesting. The forum can be found at:
ResearchTell me what you think...Derek Stem
DynamicGreens | The Wheatgrass Juice Peoplehttp://www.dynamicgreens.com Website
derek.stem@dynamicgreens.com Email
1-877-910-0467 Toll Free (US / Canada)

Hi nator,Thank you for being so thorough in your approach, it's terrific.It is important to note that our company is simply one of health enthusiasts who are trying to be keen observers of what happens to us and around us. Our personal experiences and those related to us directly by our customers both enable and limit what we are able to discuss.As an example, you ask "how do you know the nutrients are easily assimilated." We have direct experience with this. My nephew was born premature at 32 weeks after a very difficult and toxic pregnancy. When the doctors evaluated his development, they told us that he actually had development closer to 28 weeks. This child struggled badly and began having weekly doctor's appointment. At 9 months of age, the doctor was very concerned as he started to lose weight and his color became grey. At this time, out of desperation, we started tube feeding him wheatgrass juice. Within a week, his color had returned to pink, his doctor was shocked & thrilled and this marked the point at which he really started to develop. I can certainly tell you from experience that even a baby (my nephew) can assimilate the nutrition found in wheatgrass juice. Is it possible that some other factor was responsible? Sure. It is likely to be something other than the wheatgrass juice? No.I would like to apologize for an error on our part. The page you are quoting from "More Potential Benefits From Wheatgrass Juice" should have referenced the source which is The Wheatgrass Book by Ann Wigmore. These are not our claims, but rather Ann Wigmore's claims. Quite frankly, we don't want to make any claims, rather, we want to enable people to use their first amendment right to free speach to tell their story. This is what the Health Experiences Forum provides.In terms of science, there is plenty of information available such as:- 27 Summaries (most being quite dated)
http://www.wheatgrassprofessional.info/references.htm- Doctor supported treatment complete with photographs
Testimonials - A Medical Doctor's Guide to Wheatgrass HealingThe idea of our own scientific valid study was of interest to us. In 2006, I enlisted the aid of a graduate student in psyco-oncology (currently completing their dissertation) to meet with us. The reason, we wanted to attract a graduate student working in a research group at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, ON, Canada to do a statistically valid double-blind study. We were trying to understand a few things including:- How big does a study need to be to be statistically valid
- How long should it take
- What results can be claimed to be proven
- Would a graduate student without a focus be interested
- What would our financial commitment beAfter our meeting, we decided not to proceed and I'd like to share the reasons behind this.- Research already exists.
- It is not financially feasible as wheatgrass juice is very hard to make and the supply is limited. We would bankrupt ourselves diverting that much juice, over that much time into a study.
- A study is too finite and in fact, would measure the wrong things.For us, the 3rd point is the stopper. The orientation of a study is to create limited, statisically validated facts. Some of the reported benefits of wheatgrass juice are not only broad, they are qualitative (rather than quantitative) such as I feel more energetic, people tell me I look great, I feel 10 years younger. These are not really measurable. The second problem is that the areas in which we could see quantitative results are also very broad. As you can see from the customer posts, people talk about improvements in fertility, cancer, diabetes, skin conditions, auto-immune disorders, etc. We couldn't possibly fund that many studies.In addition, there is a fundamentally different objective in a study. For the most part, there is an attempt to prove that the product itself does the work. For instance, you have a headache, the contents of this tablet blocks pain receptors; consequently, no headache.Wheatgrass juice is just fuel (nutrition), it is your body that does the work. The great part is, the body seems to know what to do when it has the right raw materials available. There seems to be something special about wheatgrass juice, but we also strongly support raw foods in general. We believe people could make a big impact in their health by just choosing living foods when presented with the opportunity.The Health Experiences Forum on our site came about as a result of our discussion about a scientific study. We believed that it would do a better job than a scientific study of:- Showing broad health impacts
- Representing both qualitative and quantitative measures
- Provide more detailed information about other products or lifestyle changes people may make in addition to wheatgrass juice to reach a desired end resultI hope this helps provide some insight into where we stand with respect to scientific research. We certainly support the idea and if someone out there has the financial resources to proceed, I know where you can get some terrific wheatgrass juice.

Anecdotal evidence is what is being developed today to round out our knowledge. However, there is science behind this:- 27 Summaries (most being quite dated)
http://www.wheatgrassprofessional.info/references.htm- Doctor supported treatment complete with photographs
Testimonials - A Medical Doctor's Guide to Wheatgrass HealingIs placebo effect in play in humans, yes. Are there other animal examples where placebo effect is not in effect, yes. You can read several of these (guinea pigs, Irish wolfhounds, etc.) in Wheatgrass - Nature's Finest Medicine by Steve Meyerowitz.We are trying to build good information sources. In fact, if possible, we would like to completely replace the benefits page with customer experiences as these relate directly to the use of our juice. In doing this, we will also be able to map back usage against health objectives and really provide some unique information. We can do some of this now, but it is not complete enough to do yet.We have made it a point not to develop our own claims. The benefits page you are referencing is commonly distributed public information from industry sources and is completely referenced (now that we added the missing reference you noted). I can't change these statements as they are not mine. For example, the tooth decay statement relates to teeth as the specialized bones that they are and references decay as being the result of low bone density. Yes, tooth decay is also caused by bacteria living in plaque...but what is it working against?It's clear that you are very passionate about reliable information sources. I share this passion but am working within the limits of the information currently at hand. We are unique in that our company and approach is one that focuses on the excellence of the product (making a juice instead of some other format) despite all the additional costs. In this space, there are a lot of things which should make people very concerned. There are many products with claims that do not relate in any way to the format of the product they make. In the wheatgrass juice business, everyone making a powder references works that relate to juice. This is blatant mis-representation and not the kind of thing we do.

What a great discussion board.I completely agree that the health supplement industry is one full of pseudoscience. I also agree that our health experiences forum falls into this category; however, it is the contribution that we can afford to make and allows people exposure to opinions that would not be presented in any other manner.Wheatgrass juice has a specific problem we are trying to address with the forum. That problem is mold. Most wheatgrass juice is grown indoors (including greenhouses) and as a result, contains very high levels of mold. These molds cause adverse reactions in people and stop most from being able to use it. The forum allows a better educated set of opinions to be presented. These are people that have had access to a clean source of juice and can therefore take large amounts over long periods of time and the result has been dramatic increases in people reaching their health objectives. If you come by our site in a week or so, another post will be going up. It will be from a man (Joe) who had feet so severely cracked by eczema that he could barely walk. This had been affecting him for over 5 years and there will be before and after pictures posted. I agree that we haven't proved anything to scientific standards, but Joe is dancing now and could barely walk before. I don't think we should deny people access to this kind of information. I do however believe that we should be clear that this is what happened to Joe and doesn't mean it will happen to you.In the health supplement space, there are some really wrong things happening. How does a health food store end up filled wall to wall with bottles of tablets? How come some of the commercial vitamins have been shown to contain nothing at all? Why do so many products mis-represent research? How come bottles and extracts claim to do the same things as their raw food source? For that matter, why on earth do juice bars and stores keep serving wheatgrass juice loaded with mold?I do think there are a lot of people, particularly in the MLM space that are feeding at the trough. Neither I or our company is one of them.Cheers.Edited by DynamicGreens, : No reason given.

The initial statement that I was responding to was this:"Thanks everyone (esp bren) for debunking the wheatgrass thing. That'll save some money and not to mention save her from having to drink it (she says it tastes bad)."
found in post
http://EvC Forum: wheat grass... any science to this fad? -->EvC Forum: wheat grass... any science to this fad?So the post says I'll steer away from wheatgrass juice because it doesn't have any value according to the subjective opinions of people in this forum. This is something that I disagree with and just wanted to add some information.Posting that we were a "quack company" and suggesting that we are con-artists "feeding at the trough" kind of sets the wrong tone for the discussion. Taking the discussion to our website forum for the single purpose of attempting to discredit instead of discuss, kind of sets the wrong tone as well.I am a lover of science and commend everyone here for demanding scientific facts. In this case, scientifically validated facts that are completely documented, have human subjects and directly correlate to exact conditions are only partially available. For example, just because Dr. Chui Nan Lai states that "Applying low levels of the (wheatgrass) extract to mutagens diminished activity in them by up to 99%." doesn't mean that we understand the exact format, whether it can be packaged properly, productized, is effective short term, is effective long term or increases survival rates. It is just a statement and definitely pseudoscience.As the last few messages posted on our board have become shorter, of poorer taste and truly unproductive they have been disapproved. The reason being that they included:"My guess is that nobody at this company will touch this message with a ten foot pole."
This was a posted response to a message someone asked about heart disease and seizures. That message has been there since March 25, 2007 in the hope of a meaningful response from someone wiser than us. They do not deserve such a response particularly as we have provided no response and this is a self evident fact.The existing messages which are on the board will remain and may provide someone with more information and more things to consider.Cheers.Edited by DynamicGreens, : More information

It is definition 1 (see below) which is "To change the nature or natural qualities of" specifically in in the context of food processing.Denature - definition of denature by The Free Dictionaryde·na·ture (d-nchr)
tr.v. de·na·tured, de·na·tur·ing, de·na·tures
1. To change the nature or natural qualities of.
2. To render unfit to eat or drink without destroying usefulness in other applications, especially to add methanol to (ethyl alcohol).
3. Biochemistry
a. To cause the tertiary structure of (a protein) to unfold, as with heat, alkali, or acid, so that some of its original properties, especially its biological activity, are diminished or eliminated.
b. To cause the paired strands of (double-stranded DNA) to separate into individual single strands.
4. Physics To add nonfissionable matter to (fissionable material) so as to prevent use in an atomic weapon.

That person sent an email that we responded to immediately saying "we have no idea, your situation sounds very complicated and you need to consult your physician for advice". The post which was completely separate remained in the forum in case any browser had something to contribute.It may be hard to imagine in this day and age, but we really live by the golden rule of "do under others as you would have them do unto you." Not from a religious perspective, just a general operating principal that we think creates harmonious relationships and serves everyone best over time.Edited by DynamicGreens, : No reason given.

The approach to the postings was like throwing something in a pond.- first a peeble
- then a rock
- then a brick
- then a stick of dynamiteWhen I read post 55, it was pretty clear to me that the poster intended to escalate until this happended. I'm sure you knew the same thing. I think the real disappointment for them was that this didn't happen right away. As a result, they had to step up and try to incite. The posts were just stopped at the "brick" stage when a post that was completely out of context, with clear angy tones was directed at a customer instead of me.If the intent was truly to enter discussion where all interested parties could see and participate, it would never have left this forum. The behaviour moderated on our forum is behaviour that is also contradictory to the rules of etiquette here at EvC.

The fact is that we do not lie to the public.Edited by DynamicGreens, : No reason given.

To avoid being pinned down for what...publishing opinion and research of recognized industry professionals?Complementing this by allowing customers post their personal health experiences?Adding an accurate disclaimer that shows up on the web, the order page in particular and the packaging itself?Edited by DynamicGreens, : No reason given.Edited by DynamicGreens, : No reason given.

Hi nator,Percy has decided to take up the cause by moving the discussion to our forum. I certainly respect your opinion and questions but don't have the time to respond on both sides.In addition, I don't really have anything more to add here. My belief is based on observations and experience and I know that this doesn't measure up on EvC by the stated intention of the site and by the very words that I just used.The posts here have been great food for thought.Cheers.