Wheatgrass newsletter- "The Grassy Report"

JULY 2006

• Wheatgrass is a cereal grass!
• Research
• You can’t patent wheatgrass!
• Choice magazine compares wheatgrass to coffee and coke!
• Thank you and good health!

Wheatgrass is a cereal grass!

We have had many enquiries about the difference between wheatgrass and barley grass. Despite being a business dedicated wholly to wheatgrass – we treat all cereal grasses with the same enthusiasm and respect.

Most cereal grasses, whether they be wheat, barley, oats, rye or kamut belong to the same family (Triticum) and have very similar properties.
Some believe that Barley grass has more benefits than other cereal grasses and this is perhaps because it appears that there has been more research done into barley grass than wheatgrass.

Research into wheatgrass and other cereal grasses

As far as modern history goes, humans have been consuming grass juice since the 1930’s at least. I have talked to some of our customers from India however, who say that their families have been consuming grass juice for many generations dating many centuries back.

A group of people of the Dagestan Republic in Russia, have been eating and drinking grasses, potentially as far back as the Paleolithic Age.(7) The Dagestan people are known for having life spans of 120 -130 years – read article summary

Charles F. Schnabel, a chemist and agriculturalist (nicknamed “The father of wheatgrass’), was one of the first known to do research into the nutritional, blood building and immunity strengthening qualities of cereal grasses. He did many of his experiments with animals and also in the laboratory.(1,2).

His curiosity about grass was roused on July 31st, 1930 when Schnabel got 126 eggs from 106 hens after feeding them a diet of fresh cut, young oat grasses and greens over a period of time. (3)

Anyone who owns chooks would know that this is an amazing outcome. Your neighbours would probably suspect that you had been feeding them steroids if you were getting regular results like this!!
Have you tried feeding your chooks wheatgrass?????????
To make it even more unbelievable, these hens were also sick and dying when he got them.

Schnabel’s research into cereal grasses continued during the 1930s and 1940s, and since then by a range of bio-chemists, pharmacists, medical doctors and others like V.E. Irons, George Kohler, Ann Wigmore, Yoshihide Hagiwara, Ron Seibold from Pines International, and Dr Chris Reynolds here in Melbourne, Australia to name a few.

More recently, a study into the disease Thalassemia at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh in India has shown some potentially exciting results regarding the ability of wheatgrass to help patients with red blood cell regeneration.

Patients with this disease who are usually dependant on regular blood transfusions have been able to dramatically reduce the need for transfusions because they are using wheatgrass – see study

This is just one of the many research trials and studies that have been done into wheatgrass and other cereal grasses.
We have published a much more extensive list of research on our new website.

Please have a read – www.wheatgrasshealth.info/Wheatgrass_research.htm

You can’t patent wheatgrass!

The fact that you can’t patent wheatgrass is possibly our biggest problem, as unusual as this sounds.

Perhaps you have subscribed to our newsletter because you are interested in your health. Possibly you believe that there is more than just the manufactured, synthetic health options provided by the big pharmaceutical companies.

Many people are going back to grass roots principles, looking to nature to provide them with their food and medicine. Nature is the original source of modern medicine and many modern pharmaceuticals are actually synthetic replications of botanical products.

Wheatgrass is not difficult to grow, and no government, big drug company or multi-national corporation can stop you from growing it and drinking it yourself for your health. Because of this it is difficult for one company to make millions and millions of dollars by having exclusive rights to the manufacture and sale of wheatgrass, so there is no real funding put into research.

I have taken an extract from an excellent American author, Steve Meyerowitz.
In his book Wheatgrass: Natures Finest Medicine I think he illustrates this point very well.

Why there aren’t more studies on Wheatgrass

Extracted with permission from Wheatgrass Nature's Finest Medicine. Copyright© 2006 by Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® www.sproutman.com

Wheatgrass is not a drug. Natural products are not easily patented and the average cost of bringing a new product up to FDA approval in America is $359 million per therapeutic use. While this may be only a few days’ earnings in the prescription drug industry, it is beyond the reach of natural products manufacturers. Getting a study published in medical journals is difficult, and drug companies have substantial political and financial influence with them, since journals depend on drug ads to survive. Unless the system changes, it is unlikely that approved medicines will come from anyone other than major pharmaceutical companies.

Conventional medicine takes years to accept any discovery that challenges cherished beliefs. Typically, a discovery that contradicts mainstream authority is regarded as quackery. Pasteur was reviled for years about his “germ theory.” William Harvey (1628) was ridiculed when he claimed that blood circulates. Roentgen was laughed at in 1895 upon discovering X-rays. It is always an uphill fight opposing the status-quo which by its nature is against change.(3)

Choice magazine compares wheatgrass to coffee and coke!

Quote: “On the other hand it’s (wheatgrass) probably harmless, and makes an interesting alternative to a coffee or Coke — as long as you can bear the taste!” - Viola Korczak, Choice Magazine 5th May, 2006.(5)

With a comment like this we couldn’t just leave it be! - and this is not the only negative thing written about wheatgrass in the Choice article.

As you would expect, there has been an angry response from the wheatgrass industry towards this article. It was badly researched as you will see in our response. We discuss a large number of research trials that have been done into cereal grasses. Because this criticism is coming from a very reputable source (Australian Consumers Association), it could be damaging to a natural therapy that has helped many thousands of people with their health. Many people have been greatly benefited from the use of wheatgrass juice.

Reply to Choice Magazine article

Thank you!

Among others, we would particularly like to thank Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman®, author of many books including ‘Wheatgrass: Natures Finest Medicine’. He has been great support for us and has allowed us to publish many of his research summaries and parts of his book on our new website.

Steve is an excellent writer and a fantastic advocate for wheatgrass, sprouts and living foods as a means towards great health.

After 20 years of disappointment with orthodox medicine, he has fought against and cured himself of chronic allergies and asthma using living foods such as wheatgrass and sprouts.

Please buy one of Steve’s books – they are a great read and will help you reach and to maintain fantastic health.
Wheatgrass: Natures Finest Medicines – Steve Meyerowitz
Sprouts the miracle Food – Steve Meyerowitz

There is so much more to be learnt about the wonderful benefits of cereal grasses and we will never lose our faith because of a poorly researched article like the one that Choice has written.

I hope that you enjoy our newsletter and find some good information on our new website, and that this inspires you to spread the word about wheatgrass.

Until then, Wheatgrass, bottoms up!

Richie Coutts.
Sprout Organic Wheatgrass
Phone: 1300 79 30 70
E-mail: info@sprout.net.au