Chlorophyll

Overview

Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in plants. Plants use chlorophyll and light to make food. People use chlorophyll as medicine. Common sources of chlorophyll used for medicine include alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and silkworm droppings.
Chlorophyll is used for bad breath and reducing colostomy odor. A colostomy is a surgical opening made in the abdomen that allows intestinal waste to be collected in a bag. Chlorophyll is also used for constipation, "detoxification," and wound healing.
Healthcare providers use chlorophyll intravenously for treating a pancreas problem called chronic relapsing pancreatitis.

What is Chlorophyll ?
Chlorophyll is actually responsible for the green pigmentation in plants. Chlorophyll is what absorbs energy from the sun to facilitate photosynthesis in plants. Chlorophyll to plants is like blood to humans. It is important in many plant metabolic functions such as growth and respiration.
Interestingly, chlorophyll is chemically similar in composition to that of human blood, except that the central atom in chlorophyll is magnesium, while iron is central in human blood.

Where it is found
The only obvious chlorophyll sources are green leafy plants. However, cooking destroys much of the chlorophyll. If you want to enjoy the aforementioned benefits of chlorophyll, it is best to get your regular supply through chlorophyll supplements. Whether they are in liquid of tablet form, chlorophyll benefits can allow you to enjoy a stronger immune system, strong set of tissues and organs, and a naturally healthy body and life.

Product related PDF file
The Story Of Chlorophyll

Benefits / uses
Chlorophyll has been seen to provide health benefits to those who take them. It has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties. Here are some of the known chlorophyll benefits:


	It helps in the growth and repair of tissues.
	Chlorophyll helps in neutralizing the pollution that we breathe in everyday - a good supplement for smokers
	It efficiently delivers magnesium and helps the blood in carrying the much needed oxygen to all cells and tissues.
	It is also found to be useful in assimilating and chelating calcium and other heavy minerals.
	It had been seen to have a good potential in stimulating red blood cells to improve oxygen supply.
	Along with other vitamins such as A, C and E, chlorophyll has been seen to help neutralize free radicals that do damage to healthy cells.
	Chlorophyll is also an effective deodorizer to reduce bad breath, urine, fecal waste, and body odor.
	It may reduce the ability of carcinogens to bind with the DNA in different major organs in the body.
	Chlorophyll may be useful in treating calcium oxalate stone ailments.
	It possesses some anti-atherogenic activity as well.
	It can be used to treat infected wounds naturally.
	It has antimutagenic and anti-carcinogenic properties so that it may be helpful in protecting your body against toxins and in reducing drug side effects.

Doses

For bad breath, 100 milligrams has been taken two or three times daily. For colostomy odor, 75 milligrams three times daily for up to 100-200 milligrams daily in divided doses has been used. 300 milligrams daily has been used if odor was still not controlled. 1-2 tablets of 100 milligrams have been placed in the empty pouch each time it is reused or changed in a patient who has had an ostomy. For protection from aflatoxins, chlorophyllin 100 milligrams three times daily for four months has been studied. For pancreatitis, an infusion of 5-20 milligrams water-soluble chlorophyll-a daily for one to two weeks followed by intermittent administration thereafter has been used. For pneumonia, infusion of 0.25% chlorophyll solution in physiological sodium chloride solution administered by intravenous drip has been studied.

Intravenous:
Healthcare providers give chlorophyll intravenously (by IV) for pain and swelling (inflammation) of the pancreas (pancreatitis).

Possible Side effects / Precautions / Possible Interactions:
Chlorophyll seems to be safe for most people when taken by mouth. It should not be used by injection (intravenously) without the supervision of a trained medical professional.

Chlorophyll can cause skin to become extra-sensitive to the sun. Wear sun block outside, especially if you are light-skinned.

Special Precautions & Warnings:
Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Not enough is known about the use of chlorophyll during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.

Interaction:

	Medications that increase sensitivity to sunlight (Photosensitizing drugs) interacts with CHLOROPHYLL

	Some medications can increase sensitivity to sunlight. Chlorophyll might also increase your sensitivity to sunlight. Taking chlorophyll along with medication that increase sensitivity to sunlight could increase the chances of sunburn, blistering or rashes on areas of skin exposed to sunlight. Be sure to wear sunblock and protective clothing when spending time in the sun. Some drugs that cause photosensitivity include amitriptyline (Elavil), Ciprofloxacin (Cipro), norfloxacin (Noroxin), lomefloxacin (Maxaquin), ofloxacin (Floxin), levofloxacin (Levaquin), sparfloxacin (Zagam), gatifloxacin (Tequin), moxifloxacin (Avelox), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (Septra), tetracycline, methoxsalen (8-methoxypsoralen, 8-MOP, Oxsoralen), and Trioxsalen (Trisoralen).

Research studies / References

	Speer, Brian R. (1997). "Photosynthetic Pigments". UCMP Glossary (online). University of California Museum of Paleontology. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss3/pigments.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.

	(September 1951). "Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou". Journal of Chemical Education 28 (9): 454. doi:10.1021/ed028p454. ISSN 0021-9584. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed028p454. Green, 1984

	Marker, A. F. H. (1972). "The use of acetone and methanol in the estimation of chlorophyll in the presence of phaeophytin". Freshwater Biology 2: 361. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.1972.tb00377.x

	Jeffrey, S. W.; Shibata, Kazuo (February 1969). "Some Spectral Characteristics of Chlorophyll c from Tridacna crocea Zooxanthellae". Biological Bulletin (Marine Biological Laboratory) 136 (1): 54-62. doi:10.2307/1539668. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1539668

	Gilpin, Linda (21 March 2001). "Methods for analysis of benthic photosynthetic pigment". School of Life Sciences, Napier University. http://www.lifesciences.napier.ac.uk/teaching/MB/benchl01.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.

	Woodward RB, Ayer WA, Beaton JM (July 1960). "The total synthesis of chlorophyll". Journal of the American Chemical Society 82 (14): 3800-3802. doi:10.1021/ja01499a093. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01499a093.

	Fleming, Ian (14 October 1967). "Absolute Configuration and the Structure of Chlorophyll". Nature 216: 151-152. doi:10.1038/216151a0 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v216/n5111/abs/216151a0.html.

	Robert Burns Woodward, William A. Ayer, John M. Beaton, Friedrich Bickelhaupt, Raymond Bonnett, Paul Buchschacher, Gerhard L. Closs, Hans Dutler, John Hannah, Fred P. Hauck, et al. (1990). "The total synthesis of chlorophyll a" (PDF, 0.5 MB). Tetrahedron 46 (22): 7599-7659. doi:10.1016/0040-4020(90)80003-Z. http://media.iupac.org/publications/pac/1961/pdf/0203x0383.pdf.

	http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-form-chlorophyll

	http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19338-infrared-chlorophyll-could-boost-solar-cells.html

	Chen, M.; Schliep, M.; Willows, R. D.; Cai, Z. -L.; Neilan, B. A.; Scheer, H. (2010). "A Red-Shifted Chlorophyll". Science 329 (5997): 1318-1319. doi:10.1126/science.1191127. PMID 20724585. edit

	MÃ¼ller, Thomas; Ulrich, Markus; Ongania, Karl-Hans; KrÃ¤utler, Bernhard. (2007). "Colorless Tetrapyrrolic Chlorophyll Catabolites Found in Ripening Fruit Are Effective Antioxidants". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 46 (45): 8699-8702. doi:10.1002/anie.200703587. ISSN 1433-7851. PMC 2912502. PMID 17943948. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/116331819/abstractGross, 1991

	Meskauskiene R, Nater M, Goslings D, Kessler F, op den Camp R, Apel K. (23 October 2001). "FLU: A negative regulator of chlorophyll biosynthesis in Arabidopsisthaliana". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98 (22): 12826-12831. doi:10.1073/pnas.221252798. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 60138. PMID 11606728. http://www.pnas.org/content/98/22/12826.abstract.

	Duble, Richard L.. "Iron Chlorosis in Turfgrass". Texas A&M University. http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/turf/iron.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.

	a b http://www.adc.co.uk/Products/CCM-200_plus_Chlorophyll_Content_Meter

	Adams, Jad (2004). Hideous absinthe : a history of the devil in a bottle. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780299200008. http://books.google.com/?id=N7rKrszRxFM.

	US patent 5820916, Sagliano, Frank S. & Sagliano, Elizabeth A., "Method for growing and preserving wheatgrass nutrients and products thereof", issued 1998-10-13

(0 Items)