Wheat Grass or Wheatgrass?
Yes, there is a difference!
Popularized in the 1970s by Dr. Ann Wigmore,tray-grown wheatgrass juice is a favorite in juice bars, natural food stores, and the homes of do-it-yourself juicers worldwide. Wheatgrass juice has been associated with many health benefits as told in The Wheatgrass Book by Dr. Wigmore. However, many who purchase "fresh" wheatgrass juice don’t realize that it has not reached its full nutritional potential.
PINES Wheat Grass grown outdoors in its natural climate, has significantly higher levels of vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll and other nutrients than does tray-grown grass. The nutritional disparity is due to vast differences in the growing process.
PINES Wheat Grass, available in tablets and powders, is grown outdoors for more than 200 days in Kansas, an ideal locale for growing wheat, barley, oat and other cereal grasses. Our climate allows for anatural growing cycle, which in turn produces more nutritionally concentrated wheat grass than the accelerated tray-grown process does.
When our wheat seeds are planted in the fall, the leaves only grow about one inch above the soil in the first month. Yet the root system already reaches deep below the frost line, preparing to sustain theplant’s life during the cold winter months to come. During winter dormancy, the roots slowly absorb and store nutrients from the soil. With warmer daytime temperatures in the spring, the wheat plant again converts sunlight into energy, and utilizes the nutrients stored in its roots to transform simple sugars into complex carbohydrates, vitamins, amino acids and other nutrients, resulting in beautiful, nutritious blades of grass.
The Jointing Stage
These blades (or leaves) of grass reach their nutritional peak just prior to a period known as the jointing stage, when rapid growth begins and the nutrients stored in the leaves of the plant are used to grow the stalk and the wheat grain. PINES Wheat Grass is harvest just prior to the actual jointing, at the plant’s nutritional zenith. (The above graphic shows a cereal grass plant just before and just after jointing. PINES harvests the top 3 inches of the plant on the left, before jointing.)
Tray-grown wheatgrass is generally grown in a warm greenhouse or indoors under fluorescent lighting. After growing for 7 to 10 days, the plant is approximately 7 to 10 inches tall. It is then harvested and juiced for consumption. Because the wheatgrass grows so quickly in the warm conditions, the plant has a relatively high level of simple sugars and lacks sufficient time to convert these sugars into complex carbohydrates, vitamins, amino acids and other nutrients. Simple sugar levels may be a factor in the quick burst of energy that some users experience immediately after drinking the juice.
The accelerated growth involved in tray-growing also causes the plant to put most of its energy into growing leaves rather than roots. Thus very few minerals are absorbed through the roots to be utilized in producing the important complex nutrients.
PINES Wheat Grass is planted at the proper time, in the best climate, and harvested at precisely the right moment to provide the highest possible levels of complex carbohydrates, vitamins, amino acids and other nutrients. Tray-grown wheatgrass juice,while highly regarded by many for its therapeutic value, simply isn’t given time to develop fully, and doesn’t measure up nutritionally to PINES WheatGrass.
Each form of wheat grass has its place, with the tray-grown juice being known for its therapeutic value and refreshing taste. But if convenience, maximum nutrition, and a great price appeal to you, PINES WheatGrass is the clear choice.
Wheat Grasses Compared
Based on a 1oz serving of fresh juice and 1-1/4 teaspoon
serving of PINES Wheat Grass Powder (or 7 tablets)
PINES Wheat Grass |
Tray Grown Wheatgrass |
|
| • convenient and simple
• requires opening a jar • about 35 cents per serving • excellent nutrition • complex carbohydrates • grown over 200 days in the ground • grown outside in the sunshine • 7-10 inches tall at harvest |
• labor intensive and messy
• requires an expensive juice machine • usually $1 or more per serving • good nutrition • simple sugars • grown 7-10 days in a tray • grown inside, often under lights • 7-10 inches tall at harvest |
In addition, PINES Wheat Grass offers 13X more Betacarotene, 7X more Vitamin C, 3X more Folic Acid, 3X more Potassium, 2X more Chlorophyll, and 2X more Calcium than fresh, tray-grown juice, and is higher in Protein, Biotin, and Iron.
(Click here for a nutritional comparison.)
Sources: Fresh,tray-grown nutritional analysis comes from WheatGrass, Nature’s Finest Medicine by Steve Meyerowitz, page 53. His source was Irvine Analytical Laboratory: report courtesy of Optimal Health Institute. PINES nutritional numbers are an average of the results of multiple independent laboratory analyses.
