Wheatgrass and other 'superfoods'

Macha

A friend of mine has started doing a Healthy Eating course with a vegetarian restaurant in Wicklow. I started to become a bit suspicious when she told me that a video had been shown stating that wheatgrass can help with cancer and eating too much meat is bad for you because our bodies find it so hard to digest...

Anyway, they say that wheatgrass is nutritionally equivalent to 10 times the volume of other green vegetables. And I was wondering if any of you with in-depth nutritional knowledge would know if this is true or not? And is there any evidence that meat is difficult to digest for the vast majority of people?

They sound like snake-oil salesmen to me.

El_Dangeroso

Hmm, I dunno, the nutritional profile is pretty impressive. I don't know about the cancer thing though, not seen any studies done, seems unlikely, but that's just speculation.

I guess it would be like any other supplement, it might provide some support if you happened to be deficient in any nutrient it contained, but you can say that of most nutritious food. But like any supplement, doesn't do much if you're diet isn't healthy in the first place.

Did you try it? I've heard the taste is..distinctive

Rory1

I love the tase of it, it looks horrible but tastes good!!

It has been proven to help alkalise the body which helps fight diseases in general. I am not a vegetarian but believe we all eat far too much meat.

Ciaran500

Rory1 wrote: »

It has been proven to help alkalise the body which helps fight diseases in general. I am not a vegetarian but believe we all eat far too much meat.

Changing your body's pH is based on nothing and just used to sell new age products. If your body pH changes much from the standard 7.4 you die.

Rory1

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Changing your body's pH is based on nothing and just used to sell new age products. If your body pH changes much from the standard 7.4 you die.

I am not an expert but it is it not the case that the typical western diet is too acidic? I know your body's PH always stays close to standard but I thought that too much acid in the diet put pressure on the body.

Ciaran500

Rory1 wrote: »

I am not an expert but it is it not the case that the typical western diet is too acidic? I know your body's PH always stays close to standard but I thought that too much acid in the diet put pressure on the body.

The typical western diet is terrible, but its nothing to do with the pH levels. That's just something dreamt up in recent years to make money by giving the same old advice. Eat more vegetables. Although this seems to take it a step further and actually not allow lots of healthy foods too.

Rory1

Ciaran500 wrote: »

The typical western diet is terrible, but its nothing to do with the pH levels. That's just something dreamt up in recent years to make money by giving the same old advice. Eat more vegetables. Although this seems to take it a step further and actually not allow lots of healthy foods too.

Does the typical western diet contain too much acid?

Ciaran500

Rory1 wrote: »

Does the typical western diet contain too much acid?

I have no idea, kinda hard to find actual pH figures for foods, do you have any?

What does it matter either way if food is acidic? Everything you eat gets mixed up into a highly acidic soup in your stomach whether its basic or acidic.

Sapsorrow

I'd like to point out here that the whole point as far as I know of the acid/alkaline theory is that when you absorb ions (acids from the stomach and bases from the intestines) your body has to buffer them using it's own resources like calcium to maintain blood PH within a very narrow range, in this way it makes a lot of sense from a biochemical and physiological perspective. The ionic nature of individual food components will also exert an effect in the kidneys by altering the ph of the urine which can have knock on effects by drawing oppositely charged ions (like phosphate when high protein foods are consumed) out of the blood and into the urine where they are lost.
As far as wheatgrass goes I love it personally just based on taste alone but I have no idea of the nutritional profile or antioxidant capacity but I'd imagine seeing as it's green it's probably very good for you. You'd be suprised how variable the antioxidant concentrations and profiles of different plant foods are so it wouldn't suprise me to hear if it was extraordinarily high compared to other food sources. Whether antioxidants do anything is another question I'm trying to find the answer to at the minute.

littlefriend

If its the Happy Pear in Greystones that has organised the thing your friend is going to then I wouldn't worry about her being mislead in any way whatsoever. They are really passionate about health & educating people about how to eat. Very honest, straight up guys who give a lot to the local community.
I have no affiliation with them at all - I just go there a lot and it really is a great place.
When I was in America I remember reading all sorts of claims like that about wheatgrass. It tastes great too! Love it.

Sapsorrow

Ciaran500 wrote: »

Changing your body's pH is based on nothing and just used to sell new age products. If your body pH changes much from the standard 7.4 you die.

I'm not a proponent of the acid/alkali diet theory but what 'new age products' can possibly be marketed based on the premise of the plan? I don't see what's new age like about biochemistry.

Ciaran500

khrystyna100 wrote: »

I'm not a proponent of the acid/alkali diet theory but what 'new age products' can possibly be marketed based on the premise of the plan? I don't see what's new age like about biochemistry.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=alkaline&x=0&y=0

New age was the wrong description for it, pseudo science products probably more apt.

Macha

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Hmm, I dunno, the nutritional profile is pretty impressive. I don't know about the cancer thing though, not seen any studies done, seems unlikely, but that's just speculation.

In what way is the nutritional profile impressive? Looking at the wikipedia page (not gospel I know) it seems to be on par with spinach.

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Did you try it? I've heard the taste is..distinctive

No, it's a friend doing the course not me - I'd be interested to try it now to see what it tastes like.

I emailed the guy asking him about it and this is the response I got:

A lot of nutritional facts about certain foods are bandied around with mad and misleading claims with scrutiny but this is not the case with wheatgrass juice. Here is a nutritional breakdown of Wheatgrass performed by Irvine Analytical Laboratories on 100g (2.8oz) of wheatgrass juice:

Calories..........................21
Protein............................1.95g
Carbohydrates................2g
Magnesium.....................24mg
Potassium....…………....147mg
Zinc………………….......0.33mg
Calcium..........................24.2mg
Sodium...........................10.3mg
Iron..................................0.61mg
Folic Acid/Folacin………29mcg
Vit A...............................427IU
Vit B1 (Thiamine)..........0.08mg
Vit B2 (Riboflavin).........0.13mg
Vit B3 (Niacinamide).....0.11mg
Vit B5 (Pantothenic HCI) ..0.02mg
Vit B6 (Cyanocobalamin) ..<1mcg
Vit C (Ascorbic Acid)....3.65mg
Vit E ............................15.2IU
Biotin...........................10mcg
Chlorophyll..................42.2mg
Choline.......................92.4mg

Wheatgrass contains 70% and much of the scientific research has been carried on the benefits of chlorophyll to our health as this is can be clearly traced and monitored in the body.
Observations from the Hippocrates Health Institute in the US, (founded by Dr. Ann Wigmore, the lady who was responsible for initiating the findings on wheatgrass) said that “an analysis of blood samples drawn from more than two hundred Hippocrates guests before and after only 2 weeks of our program gave scientific support to our observations. Performed at the Arthur Testing Laboratory, the study showed that within 2 weeks of drinking wheatgrass juice and following the Hippocrates live food diet, the blood is detoxified and the immune system strengthened”

Any opinions? Detoxifying blood? Is that right?

rubadub

taconnol wrote: »

they say that wheatgrass is nutritionally equivalent to 10 times the volume of other green vegetables.

Brocolli is probably over 10 times cheaper, and over 10 times easier to eat!

Some of the other "superfoods" are simply dried, so it bumps up their figures since a lot of fruit & veg would be ~80-90% water content.

El_Dangeroso

taconnol wrote: »

Any opinions? Detoxifying blood? Is that right?

Ehhh detoxifying blood? Probably not

If it's nutritionally equivalent to spinach, that sounds like the cheaper option.

Macha

littlefriend wrote: »

They are really passionate about health & educating people about how to eat. Very honest, straight up guys who give a lot to the local community. I have no affiliation with them at all - I just go there a lot and it really is a great place.

Yes it's a nice cafe and yes they're vegetarian and into organic and healthy heating. But that doesn't mean that what they say is gospel. If wheatgrass is as amazing as they say, that's great but I'd like to find out if it's true rather than just take the word of some guys who also happen to sell the stuff. I am a natural sceptic

rubadub wrote: »

Brocolli is probably over 10 times cheaper, and over 10 times easier to eat!

Some of the other "superfoods" are simply dried, so it bumps up their figures since a lot of fruit & veg would be ~80-90% water content.

That's what I imagine might be happening. If they're going to argue wheatgrass is a superfood, then so is broccoli, spinach, beetroot, etc etc.