Leukemia

How It Works

If we look at oxygen as a bullet to kill cancer cells, then we should look at wheatgrass as a shotgun blast at treating cancer. (1) The number of ways it deals with cancer is incredible. First of all, it contains chlorophyll, which has almost the same molecular structure as hemoglobin.

Chlorophyll increases hemoglobin production, meaning more oxygen gets to the cancer. (2) Selenium and laetrile are also in wheatgrass, both are anticancer.  (3) Chlorophyll and selenium also help build the immune system. (4) Furthermore, wheatgrass is one of the most alkaline foods known to mankind. (5) And the list goes on.

Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass contains at least 13 vitamins (several are antioxidants), including B12, many minerals and trace elements, including selenium, and all 20 amino acids. It also contains the hormone abscisic acid (also called: dormin, see below), the antioxidant enzyme SOD (Superoxide Dismutase, see below) and over 30 other enzymes, the antioxidant enzyme cytochrome oxidase (see below), laetrile (see its own page), and a whole lot of other nutrients. (3)

• “superoxide dismutase (SOD) – which converts two superoxide anions into a molecule of hydrogen peroxide and one of oxygen” (6)
  

In other words, SOD converts one of the most dangerous free radicals: Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), into a hydrogen peroxide molecule (which has an extra oxygen molecule to kill cancer cells) and an oxygen molecule.

Now let's talk about cytochrome oxidase.

• “In 1938, the great cancer scientist and researcher Paul Gerhardt Seeger, M.D., revealed that the true cause of the cancerous degeneration of a cell results from the destruction of a specific respiratory enzyme, cytochrome oxidase. In other words, cancer in the cell is caused by disturbance of oxygen utilization or cell respiration.” (7)
  

But it may be that chlorophyll is the best part of wheatgrass.

• “In a study reported in the journal Mutation Research comparing the anticancer effect of chlorophyll to beta-carotene, and vitamins A, C and E, chlorophyll was proven to be a more effective antimutagen than any of them.”

I suspect the main reason chlorophyll is so good at dealing with cancer is the oxygen availability it provides.

• “Both chlorophyll (as in wheatgrass juice) and hemoglobin (red blood cells) are molecularly similar. The only actual difference is that the central element in chlorophyll is magnesium and in hemoglobin it is iron. Chlorophyll has the ability to break down poisonous carbon dioxide and release free oxygen.” (8)
  

One key question about wheatgrass is how long to wait after cutting it before you consume it. Most people, taking their cue from Ann Wigmore, say to take it immediately after cutting and juicing. However, the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is 40 times more potent four hours after cutting the wheatgrass than it is at the time of cutting. So the question boils down to this: How important is ABA to treating cancer compared to the other anticancer substances in wheatgrass?

Before her death, Dr. Virginia Livingston-Wheeler had a clinic that cured cancer patients. Her vaccine was based on abscisic acid. This is a quote about her clinic.

• “Abscisic acid is a supplement you will not find in a health food store. Based on her research, Dr. Livingston-Wheeler determined that abscisic acid neutralizes the effect of chorionic gonadotropin, the hormone that protects the fetus from being rejected, and she classed it as her prime supplement in treating cancer. Livingston-Wheeler discovered that cancer cells (or the microbes associated with them) produce a substance very similar to chorionic gonadotropin. Abscisic acid is a close relative of Vitamin A. In her book, The Conquest of Cancer; Livingston-Wheeler describes how you can make abscisic acid.”

So what do you do, eat it immediately or four hours after you cut it? Perhaps both. Perhaps when you cut your wheatgrass and juice it, you drink most of it immediately and some four hours later you drink the rest of it.

The reason we get into such a technical issue is because in some cases wheatgrass juice therapy did not work as promised. This may be because the patient drank a lot of tap water with chlorine in it or it may be because abscisic acid is more important than thought or for some other reason. By splitting up the wheatgrass juice into two sessions, you get the best of both worlds.

• “The Wheatgrass Diet [of Ann Wigmore] excludes all meat, dairy products and cooked foods and emphasizes “live foods” such as uncooked sprouts, raw vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds. The Wheatgrass Diet was developed by Boston resident Ann Wigmore who established the Hippocrates Health Institute which later was renamed the Ann Wigmore Institute (AWI).”