7 Chlorophyll Health Benefits
You might notice liquid chlorophyll supplements increasing on the shelves. So what does eating your veggies and chlorophyll have to do with one another? Chlorophyll is the pigment in plants that give them their green color and keeps them healthy, including leafy green vegetables. The benefits of chlorophyll include providing energy to your cells, reducing oxidative stress from free radical damage, and much more.
Chlorophyll is a superfood because it’s rich in compounds that provide health benefits, such as antioxidants and fiber. I will tell you about chlorophyll’s health benefits and the delicious ways you can reap them. First, let’s talk more about chlorophyll and what it is.
The Impressive Benefits of Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is chock-full of powerful nutrients, along with antioxidants and fiber. It’s the purest form of energy found in some energy drinks due to its high vitamin B12 content. It does so much more than give you power, though. Here are 7 chlorophyll health benefits.
1. Chlorophyll Gives you Energy
As I mentioned, chlorophyll is packed with vitamin B12, making it an excellent natural energy source. Eating plants high in chlorophyll is the closest we’ll get to eating sunshine, which increases serotonin production and provides your body energy.
Plants are at the bottom of the food chain, and they’re able to harness the sun’s power to make food, and when we eat plants, we’re getting that energy in its most pure, whole form. That’s why you have more energy after eating vegetables. Another critical reason to make organic veggies part of every meal!
2. Chlorophyll is Anti-Aging
Too much exposure to the sun can damage our skin and cause it to age faster. Prolonged sun exposure damages our skin’s elastic fibers that keep it smooth, leading to premature aging. Ultraviolet light exposure from the sun can also cause liver spots on your skin. This sunlight-related aging is called photoaging and can even lead to skin cancer.1
Because chlorophyll acts as an antioxidant in the body, it works to fight and reduce free radical damage, which causes premature aging. Chlorophyll also promotes collagen production in your body, and collagen is what gives your skin that plump, youthful appearance.
3. Chlorophyll Facilities Red Blood Cell Growth
Chlorophyll is chemically similar to hemoglobin, a protein essential in red blood cells to carry oxygen around your body. Researchers have suggested that wheatgrass juice, which is rich in chlorophyll, may help treat hemoglobin deficiency disorders, such as anemia and thalassemia. A study done in 2004 indicated that wheatgrass, which contains about 70% chlorophyll, reduced the number of blood transfusions needed in people with blood disorders.
4. Chlorophyll Supports Your Skin
Chlorophyll is incredibly rich in vitamins A, C, E, and K, which are equally important in the appearance of youthful, vibrant skin. These vitamins promote the growth of skin cells and help reduce the appearance of dark spots, fine lines, and wrinkles, which are often the result of too much exposure to the sun. Magnesium is also a critical mineral in chlorophyll, which helps support skin hydration, facilitates a healthy inflammatory response, and promotes oxygen storage in skin cells.
5. Chlorophyll Promotes Wound Healing
Knowing chlorophyll’s benefits for your skin, it only makes sense that another chlorophyll health benefit is that it promotes wound healing. Doctors have been using chlorophyll to treat wounds since the 1940s and 1950s. Remember, chlorophyll facilitates red blood cell growth, which helps with supplying oxygen through your body, and this process facilitates blood circulation to the wound, supporting a healthy healing process.2
6. It’s A Free Radical Scavenger
Chlorophyll is a natural, free radical scavenger with antioxidant properties. A free radical is just an atom missing an electron, so it goes on the hunt for a spare electron throughout your body to replace the missing one. Atoms need to have an even number of electrons to survive. In their search for a spare electron, they steal electrons from healthy cells and leave behind wreckage, also known as oxidative stress. I will talk more about oxidative stress in just a second.
Our bodies often produce free radicals during the digestive process, turning nutrients into energy. In small amounts, free radicals serve essential functions such as detoxification and healing wounds. They also support the heart when it’s under stress. However, too much of a good thing can be harmful. Chronic stress can lead to increased levels of free radicals that create oxidative stress, leading to heart disease.
One of the primary sources of free radicals is the food you eat. Specifically fried foods and alcohol.3 If you’re following The Myers Way®, you are already one step ahead since eliminating toxic foods to heal your gut is the first pillar of The Myers Way®. Toxins from smoking or radiation from x-rays can also expose you to free radicals. Pesticides, environmental pollutants, some household cleaners, and certain medications – such as those used for treating cancer – are further sources of free radicals. Sometimes it feels like toxins are everywhere.
Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress occurs when there’s an imbalance of antioxidants and free radicals. As I mentioned, free radicals are atoms looking for a spare electron to meet the requirement of having pairs of electrons. Antioxidants supply free radicals with the electron they need to prevent damage to healthy cells.
Your body produces antioxidants through its chemical processes and can also get antioxidants from your diet. Ideally, your body will have plenty of antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin C, beta carotene, and selenium, which can all donate electrons to the unstable free radicals, stabilizing them and neutralizing their threat.
However, exposure to toxins, poor diet, smoking, elevated blood sugar, chronic stress, and many other inflammatory triggers can signal your body to produce more free radicals. If you are deficient in these antioxidant nutrients and your free radical production is in overdrive, this can create an imbalance.
7. It is a Natural Deodorant
While chlorophyllin has been used since the 1940s to neutralize certain odors, studies are outdated and show mixed results. However, a recent study showed that chlorophyll helped neutralize odors in people with trimethylaminuria, a condition that causes a fishy smell. The study found that chlorophyllin significantly decreased the number of trimethylamines.4
Trymethylmines build up in the body when a person has a metabolic condition that prevents them from being converted into trimethylamine N-oxide, which is odorless. When trimethylamines build up, they get released through sweat, urine, reproductive fluids, and breath, giving off a strong fishy odor.5
The good news is that you can reap chlorophyll’s health benefits from your diet by eating foods rich in chlorophyll.
Foods Rich in Chlorophyll
Since chlorophyll is the pigment in plants that gives them their green color, it makes sense that green vegetables are the best source of chlorophyll. The best sources of chlorophyll from food include:6
A note about kiwi: Some people have a sensitivity to citrus fruits. If you have a sensitivity to citrus, I recommend not eating kiwi. Doing an elimination diet is a great way to determine if you are sensitive to kiwi or citrus fruits.
It’s not always easy to get a whole serving of green vegetables all the time. The harsh reality is that one cup of green vegetables can have anywhere from 4 to 15 mg. You could eat vegetables for every meal and still not get optimal amounts of chlorophyll, which is 100 to 300mg daily.7 Don’t worry! I’m about to tell you about my go-to way to get optimal amounts of chlorophyll in just one small scoop.
My Favorite Way to Add Green Vegetables To My Diet
Chlorophyll supplements are all over the place, yet they may not be a nutritious option because their chlorophyll isn’t always natural. Chlorella i is a type of alga that contains high amounts of chlorophyll. When you combine chlorella with spirulina, which also contains chlorophyll, you get a decisive 1-2 punch of chlorophyll. I formulated Organic Greens to contain optimal amounts of chlorella and spirulina in a proprietary blend.
Not only does Organic Greens include chlorella and spirulina, I also made sure to add optimal amounts of organic green vegetables, including spinach, broccoli, apple, kale, parsley, and many other superfoods such as ashwagandha and beets.
As a Functional Medicine physician, I travel quite a bit, and finding organic fruits and vegetables in the hotel restaurant or anywhere nearby is sometimes impossible! The alternative is to find a way to buy organic vegetables in a health food store near your hotel and cook them. You can see that this is not ideal or sometimes not even a possibility. Organic Greens to the rescue! Mix a scoop into a glass of water or juice, and you’re way ahead of the game!
Eating vegetables is a great way to get chlorophyll’s health benefits, yet you could eat vegetables all day and still not get enough. This is why Organic Greens makes a convenient way to reap all the chlorophyll health benefits in one drink.
