Animal Studies
Guinea Pigs Thrive on Grass Diet
Commercial Feed vs Commercial Feed Plus Dehydrated Wheat Grass
The "Grass Juice Factor"
In the mid 1930s, at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. George Kohler and his colleagues were studying the differences in the nutritional value of cow’s milk produced at different seasons of the year. Although they thrived on summer milk, experimental rats and guinea pigs failed to grow and eventually became sick and died when fed winter milk. The higher nutritional value of the summer milk was found to be due to the grasses eaten by the cows in the spring and summer. Thus began research on the "Grass Juice Factor", a water soluble extract of grass juice which was responsible for this growth effect.67
Most of the individual vitamins were isolated and identified during the 1930s by scientists working to identify all the nutritional factors necessary for growth and reproduction in humans and domestic animals. Because the addition of green foods to the diets of test animals often produced dramatic growth and health effects, cereal grass and the Grass Juice Factor were intensely investigated. By the late 1930s, dehydrated cereal grasses were available in several forms for use as a human food supplement. They have remained on the market under a variety of trade names ever since.
At the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Mott Cannon and his colleagues found that guinea pigs failed rapidly when fed a stock ration plus high levels of all the then-known nutrients.18 When the researchers added standard food supplements such as liver extracts, wheat germ, and brewer’s yeast to the animals’ diets, the guinea pigs remained sick and often died. Addition of dehydrated grass or grass juice brought about dramatic recovery and restimulated growth in these animals.
A large number of foods were tested at the University of Wisconsin to determine which of them contained the highest levels of the Grass Juice Factor.113 The best sources were found to be dehydrated cereal grass, young white clover, peas, and cabbage.
In 1935, Danish researchers discovered vitamin K, the "koagulation vitamin". Because this nutrient was difficult to isolate in large quantities, cereal grasses were used in lieu of purified vitamin K—both for research and for medical therapy.59 Folic acid was identified in 1938, and named for the green leaves, or foliage, which are its richest source. Food scientists were beginning to see that some of the health and growth benefits provided by the cereal grasses were due to essential vitamins and minerals which they contained. Other benefits, however, could not be attributed to known nutrients.
Other Unidentified Health Factors in Cereal Grasses
By 1950, all the nutrients now considered essential to the human diet (with the exception of selenium) had been identified. But researchers continued to describe green food "factors" which could not be correlated with any known nutrient. In 1957, Ershoff again demonstrated the growth-stimulating effect of a green food factor for guinea pigs.33 All cereal grasses produced similar results. Dehydration and pelleting of the green foods did not diminish the effects.
In 1960, the same laboratory described a water-soluble factor in alfalfa which improved utilization of vitamin A in rats.34 This factor was shown to be distinct from known nutrients, including the carotenes. In 1966, Dr. George Briggs and others identified a "plant factor" in grasses, alfalfa and broccoli, which was isolated using the methods used earlier by Kohler.82 This factor provided significant growth stimulation when fed to guinea pigs. Dr. Briggs’ study is especially useful. It provides controls for nutrients (folic acid, vitamin B-12, zinc) which had not yet been identified when Dr. Kohler did his original work. To this day the "Grass Juice Factor" in young green plants, required for life and health in guinea pigs, has still not been identified as any of the known nutrients.
Cereal Grass as a Multi-Nutrient Supplement For Humans
Dehydrated cereal grass has been available as a food supplement for humans and animals since the 1930s. Before synthetic vitamin supplements were available, people took grass tablets to supplement diets which they considered to be inadequate. Doctors gave grass tablets to patients with nutrient deficiencies, or for specific health conditions.22
Excerpted from CEREAL GRASS: What’s in it for You!
For more wheat grass benefits and research, see all of Chapter 2.
