Chlorella Healing Properties

Chlorophyll Nature's Greatest Cleanser

One of the greatest food substances for cleansing the bowel and other elimination systems, the liver and the blood is chlorophyll, as found in all green vegetables, especially the green, leafy vegetables. The problem we find here is that food greens contain less than half of one percent chlorophyll. Alfalfa, from which chlorophyll is commercially extracted, has only 8 or 9 pounds per ton, about 0.2% when extracted, and alfalfa is one of the plants highest in chlorophyll. Commercial liquid chlorophyll often contains only about 1% chlorophyll.

Green algae are the highest sources of chlorophyll in the plant world; and, of all the green algae studied so far, chlorella is the highest, often ranging from 3 to 5% chlorophyll.' Chlorella supplements can speed up the rate of cleansing of the bowel, bloodstream and liver, by supplying plenty of chlorophyll. In addition, the mysterious Chlorella Growth Factor (CGF) speeds up the healing rate of any damaged tissue.

Algae Studies and the Liver

There are many conditions and toxins that contribute to liver necrosis or fatty liver, and one of the most common is malnutrition, especially diets lacking in quality protein (specifically the sulphur-containing amino acids). Diabetes can cause one type of fatty liver degeneration, and excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates causes another. Experiments have been done in the Republic of China, Japan, and Germany to see what effects chlorella would have in preventing or reversing various liver conditions, and the results are promising and exciting.

One of the first comparative studies of the effects of alga and other foods (skim milk powder and cooked egg white) on the liver was done in the early 1950s in Germany at the universities of Bonn and Cologne. Dr. Hermann Fink fed groups of rats single-food diets to see how alga compared with known food substances. On a diet of only skim milk, most of the rats died of liver necrosis, while one rat on the egg white diet showed signs of necrosis. All rats on the alga diet remained healthy. Dr. Fink concluded that further research should be done to find out if green alga had therapeutic value for the liver.

Chlorella Protects the Liver

Several experiments have shown that chlorella stimulates a protective effect on the liver, as shown by its resistance to damage by toxins such as ethionine. In one German study, the liver was protected from the kind of damage caused by malnutrition. Chlorella lowers blood cholesterol and triglycerides, the levels of which are associated with liver metabolism as well as fat intake. We can see how the protective and cleansing effects of chlorella on the liver support the natural defenses of the body.

Since the 1930s, experiments with ethionine, a chemical toxic to the liver, had been done on laboratory animals, because ethionine caused liver malfunctions similar to those caused in humans from malnutrition, alcoholism, disturbed sugar storage, interference with protein and fat metabolism and so forth. In the 1970s, a group of Chinese scientists at Taipei Medical College and National Taiwan University decided to see if chlorella added to the diet would protect the liver from ethionine damage.

In their first experiments, Wang, Lin and Tung found that feeding chlorella to rats before giving them the ethionine helped protect the liver from damage and produced faster recovery times. Following up on these studies, the Formosan scientists designed another experiment to see how 5% chlorella supplementation of the diet would affect more specific liver functions. Rats fed the chlorella supplement had lower levels of total liver fats, triglycerides and glycogen (stored sugar), and less liver damage, than rats fed the same diet without chlorella, after ethionine was given to both groups. The chlorella fed rats also recovered more rapidly. Earlier experiments showed that malnutrition caused abnormally high levels of glycogen in the liver and high levels of triglycerides due to liver malfunction. The authors of the study concluded that chlorella protects the liver from damage due to malnutrition or toxins when used at a relatively low level (5%) of supplementation.

In 1975, Japanese researchers published an article in the Japanese Journal of Nutrition, showing that chlorella in the diet lowered both the blood cholesterol and liver cholesterol. There was a definite effect by chlorella on liver function.

Chlorella and the Channels of Elimination

One of the first things we find out about chlorella is that it stimulates and normalizes an under-active bowel. Dr. Motomichi Kobayashi, director of a hospital in Takamatsu, Japan, prescribes chlorella for all his patients who are troubled with constipation. A US Army medical facility in Colorado found that scenedesmus, an alga similar to chlorella, combined with chlorella and fed to volunteers, increased the amount of waste eliminated by the bowel.' Secondly, in 1957, Dr. Takechi and his associates in Japan found out that chlorella promoted rapid growth of lactobacillus, one of the bacteria that promotes colon health. The chlorophyll in chlorella helps keep the bowel clean, while the tough cellulose membrane of chlorella (which is not digested) binds to cadmium, lead and other heavy metals and carries them out of the body. The CGF stimulates repair of tissue damage. To summarize, chlorella restores bowel regularity, normalizes beneficial bowel flora, assists in detoxifying the bowel and stimulates repair of damaged tissue.

Numerous testimonies from Japan are available, showing how chlorella has taken care of lung and bronchial problems, kidney troubles, bowel problems and skin conditions. Some of these will be presented in a later chapter of the book. The main point is, chlorella improves elimination in all four elimination channels, which is the key to detoxification of the body. This allows the rebuilding and rejuvenation of the natural defense system as a whole and the immune system, in particular.

Chlorella Helps to Clean the Bloodstream

A clean bloodstream, with an abundance of red blood cells to carry oxygen, is necessary to a strong natural defense system. Chlorella's cleansing action on the bowel and other elimination channels, as well as its protection of the liver, helps keep the blood clean.

Clean blood assures that metabolic wastes are efficiently carried away from the tissues. My experience has shown that the buildup of metabolic wastes in the body is probably as serious a problem as the accumulation of toxic materials from undesirable foods, pollution and exposure to chemicals on the job.

Chlorella Helps to Balance Blood Sugar

Experiments have shown that chlorella tends to normalize blood sugar in cases of hypoglycemia while numerous personal testimonies show that it also helps take care of diabetes. In hypoglycemia, blood sugar is too low, while in diabetes, blood sugar is too high. Proper levels of blood sugar are necessary for normal brain function, heart function and energy metabolism, all of which are crucial in sustaining good health and preventing disease. The liver and pancreas are involved in the regulation of blood sugar, particularly the Islands of Langerhans in the pancreas. So, we find that chlorella supports and balances pancreatic functions as well as the other organs we have discussed.

Chlorella Helps to Reduce Catarrhal Conditions

A large-scale experiment, mentioned earlier, with chlorella was conducted on nearly a thousand Japanese sailors on a training cruise from Japan to Australia and back, over a period of 95 days. Two grams of chlorella per day was given to 458 randomly selected crew members, while 513 others served as a comparison group and did not take the chlorella. About 30% fewer cases of colds and flu were experienced by those who took chlorella. A substance called "chlon A", extracted from the nucleic material of chlorella, stimulates interferon production and helps protect cells against viruses.

Chlorella Helps to Heal Wounds

Another important aspect of chlorella is evident when we look at hospital cases in which ulcers and wounds that refused to heal were treated with chlorella and Chlorella Growth Factor (CGF). Japanese doctors found that ulcers healed rapidly and that wounds which were unresponsive to various medications and treatments finally healed when the patients took oral doses of chlorella and Chlorella Growth Factor. Experiments have shown that a substance in CGF stimulates both plant and animal cells to reproduce at a faster rate, which stimulates healing. For many years, I have emphasized that only foods can build new tissue, and this is the ultimate secret of true healing.

Chlorella Helps lower Cholesterol and Triglyceride Levels

Chlorella Helps to Normalize Blood Pressure

For many years now, chlorella has been known to normalize blood pressure in many documented cases, High blood pressure is one of the major risk factors in heart attack and stroke, which account for more fatalities in the US than any other disease.

Laboratory experiments have shown that regular use of chlorella reduces high blood pressure and prevents strokes in rats. Cases of low blood pressure are not as numerous, but when chlorella has been used consistently over a period of months, the low blood pressure often increases to normal.

Chlorella Helps to Build Up the Immune Factors

Science considers the trillions of white blood cells (leukocytes) and antibodies that circulate in the blood and lymph as the body's main defense system against disease. A protein called interferon protects cells against harmful viruses. Leukocytes of various types not only circulate, but cluster together in lymph nodes and in lymphatic tissue such as the tonsils, spleen and appendix. They line the walls of liver passages, where they are known as Kupffer cells, and portions of the small intestine where they are called Peyer's patches.

These "soldiers" of the immune system are said to patrol the blood and lymph, or stand on guard in the lymph nodes, liver, spleen, small intestine and so forth, destroying harmful bacteria, removing foreign matter and taking old blood cells out of circulation. The great scientist Metchnikoff won a Nobel prize for his discoveries about the immune system in 1908.

Cells and antibodies of the immune system can be destroyed by radiation and chemotherapy. Research has shown a significant loss of white blood cells from sunburn alone, since the white blood cells moving through the skin capillaries are destroyed by the ultraviolet light in sunlight. White blood cells (leukocytes) and antibodies both require a balance of nutrients and high-quality proteins. If we are not eating properly, the immune system is harmed along with other parts of the body.

Recent Research

Some of the most recent scientific experiments in Japan and the Republic of China concern the effects of chlorella on the immune system in cases of degenerative disease. Several years ago, Japanese doctors discovered that giving chlorella to cancer patients going through radiation therapy or chemotherapy helped prevent leucopenia, the sudden drop in white blood cell count which usually accompanied those therapies. Leucopenia is characterized by fatigue, low energy and low resistance to infections and catarrhal conditions. Doctors found that if chlorella was given in advance of the treatment, the white blood cell count would not drop as low, and it would bounce up again more quickly than usual.

Research at the Kitazato Institute indicated that chemical substances in chlorella stimulated the production of interferon, a chemical natural to the body which protects cells against viruses and which is believed to slow the growth rate of cancer cells.