Wheatgrass Shots - Down It Or Dunk It?
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The newest member to join the natural foods bandwagon, Wheatgrass has every up-and-coming health enthusiast going ga-ga over it. With its unassuming, lawn grass-like appearance and its bitter, earthy taste, is the grass really greener for those who swear by wheatgrass shots benefits? We’re doing a deep dive to find the answer —what are wheat grass shots good for?
Wheatgrass Shots Benefits: Leafing Through History
As you may have already deduced, wheatgrass belongs to the wheat family. The first leaves of the wheat plant before the seeds begin to grow, that’s your wheatgrass right there. What I discovered from my internet sleuthing is that wheatgrass actually isn’t a new entrant in the kitchen, in fact it’s been around for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations harvested wheatgrass and considered it to be sacred for their effects on vitality and life. In the early 1900s, an agricultural chemist named Charles Schnabel realized that feeding his dying hens diet of wheatgrass not only helped them back to life, but also enhanced their egg production drastically.
A decade later in the 1940s, Ann Wigmore, a promoter of alternative medicine and cancer survivor began preaching about wheatgrass and other varieties of grass being miracle-working ingredients that could alleviate just about any illness. While neither her credentials nor her research methods have aged well, a huge number of people continue to model her philosophy of holistic methods of medicine using raw food.
Is The Hype Over Wheatgrass Worth It?
What are wheat grass shots good for? Well, if you’re expecting disruptive effects such as losing weight overnight or even curing yourself of diabetes - then the answer is no. However, this doesn't mean that wheatgrass is all hype and no substance. In fact, wheatgrass has been found to be a source of several beneficial minerals and vitamins such as:
Vitamin A, E, C, K & B6
Calcium
Selenium
Magnesium
Iron
Wheatgrass is also high in essential amino acids. It also packs in a high dose of antioxidants such as glutathione, Vitamin C & E. While wheatgrass enthusiasts swear by its ailment-treating, miracle-working abilities, there’s very little to no evidence supporting most of these claims.
People believe that including wheatgrass in their daily diet helps them combat colds, coughs, and digestive complaints among others. Holistic medicine practitioners credit these benefits to the high levels of chlorophyll present in wheatgrass. It is widely believed that chlorophyll boosts the effect of hemoglobin and enriches the blood with oxygen. However, there is no scientific evidence to support these claims and their consequential benefits.
Most green, leafy veggies you already probably include in your diet also give you the same effects. It’s also a popular belief that a serving of wheatgrass juice is substantial enough to make up for your daily serving of fruits and vegetables. This isn’t advisable, according to the British Dietetic Association. Infact, you’d be missing out on all the diverse nutrients and deliciousness you get from a varied mix of fruits and veggies.
Detoxing Wheatgrass’ Claim To Fame
What is wheatgrass juice good for? Ann Wigmore widely preached that since she often observed ill cats and dogs nibbling away at grass for relief, a similar effect can also be possible in humans. Wheatgrass consumers long have talked about its alkaline nature and how it detoxes the body of metallic compounds. Again, this seems to be more of a firmly-held belief rather than a tested and proven scientific outcome.
One small-scale study carried out in the early days of the fad shows controlled symptoms of a condition called ulcerative colitis, which is a chronic inflammation of the large intestine. Apart from this, there is no salt to the claim that wheatgrass can effectively detox your body of harmful agents.
The Bottom Line
Wheatgrass, like most other natural herbs and veggies, does offer plenty of beneficial resources. But, most of the wheatgrass shots benefits are purely based on alternative healing beliefs and not on scientific, human-based trials. Most of the compounds found in wheatgrass are found in everyday vegetables such as kale and spinach. So if you’ve been lured toward the healing and curative properties of that beautifully packaged wheatgrass powder (how long does wheatgrass powder last?), maybe think again.
