Schnabel Family Members Visit PINES

On Monday, August 6th, 2012, Emily Sloan with two of her sons visited Pines International to help dedicate signs to remember the work of her father, Charles F. Schnabel, Sr. Schnabel spent his lifetime studying cereal grass. Authors of books on the subject refer to Schnabel as the "father of wheatgrass," because of his discovery of the nutritional density of wheatgrass and other cereal grasses. Schnabel and other investors produced, Cerophyl, the world's first concentrated source of vitamins. They provided it to doctors and hospitals.  Cerophyl consisted of dehydrated wheatgrass and other cereal grasses they produced North of Lawrence, Kansas.  They built that dehydration facility in the early 1930s. His work is detailed at Cerophyl.net. This is his Wikipedia Page. You can find more about Cerophyl and the use of cereal grass here. Charles F. Schnabel Sr.

Cerophyl was the First Multi-Vitamin

Cerophyl was sold as a food.  It was a blend of wheatgrass and other cereal grasses. It provided the user with the minimum daily requirements of most of the known vitamins.  The dosage was a rounded tablespoon of the powder or twenty tablets each day. Cerophyl was an extremely successful product. Pharmacies throughout the United States carried it. Through Dr. Schnabel's efforts, medical journals published dozens of studies documenting its use for many conditions.  The result was a demand for Cerophyl so great that a second facility had to be established about 20 miles away in Grantville, Kansas.

Is Cerophyl Still Available?

Although the brand Cerophyl is no longer sold, Pines grows wheatgrass with the same standards that Dr. Schnabel taught.  Like his wheatgrass, Pines still grows its crops through the winter in rich glacial soils. The company even use several of the same fields.  Pines harvests the wheatgrass at a special once-a-year time when the scientists discovered the nutritional peak. The company dries it with the low-temperature process Schnabel developed.  Pines packages its greens using the same kind of oxygen-free amber glass bottles with the same special metal caps designed by Dr. Schnabel. You will find Pines' products at leading natural food stores and direct online.

Is Schnabel's Wheatgrass Used for "Wheatgrass Shots?"

Those who grow wheatgrass indoors in trays often quote the research Schnabel inspired.  They incorrectly use his data to support a method that is considerably different. Growing wheatgrass in a tray is not the method used in the research. It is much different than the naturally-grown wholefood wheatgrass powder produced from plants grown by Dr. Schnabel. His wheatgrass was grown outdoors in rich glacial soil through the freezing temperatures of winter and harvested at a once-a-year time in the spring. Although indoor grown wheatgrass contains only 25% as much chlorophyll as wheatgrass grown by Dr. Schnabel and Pines, it is still very powerful. Chlorophyll rich foods are the major dietary staple of most other primates in their natural state. Often chlorophyll-deficient individuals experience very startling results when they increase the chlorophyll and fiber of dark green leafy vegetation in their diets with Pines Wheat Grass and other green foods.

Wheatgrass Grown Naturally Versus  Unnatural

The difference between wheatgrass grown in a tray in the top picture above is much different that the way wheatgrass is supposed to grow in the lower picture.  Grown using a completely unnatural method, indoor wheatgrass grows quickly in ten days. The growing conditions are far too warm and humid compared to about 200 days in often-freezing temperatures and bright sunshine for Schnabel's wheatgrass. Moreover, indoor growers plant the seeds 300 times closer together than is natural. Those factors create perfect conditions for mold and bacteria. That kind of contamination makes some people sick and can lead to candida in the digestive tract.  The levels of mold and bacteria are very high for wheatgrass grown in such an unnatural way.  Unfortunately, tray grown wheatgrass is seldom tested for mold, bacteria and pathogens. On the other hand, Pines tests every batch of certified organic wheatgrass for bacteria, mold, heavy metals, pathogens and gluten.  Then, the company seals the wheatgrass in oxygen-free bottles.  Pines tests every batch.  In more than 40 years, tests continue to show no pathogens and mold in Pines Wheat Grass. That's because Pines grows its wheatgrass using completely natural conditions outdoors as nature intended in accordance with scientific standards. Pines Still Operates One of the Laboratories

Official Re-Dedication of His Facility & Laboratory

Having Dr. Schnabel's daughter and two of his grandchildren on hand to officially bring Cerophyl back to its original home was an honor. Pines is proud to have carried on his traditions since we re-introduced wheatgrass to the marketplace 40 years ago. We are also proud of the history of Cerophyl. As the first commercial source of vitamins in 1937, thousands of people used Cerophyl to ensure enough vitamins in their diets.  Unfortunately, after World War II, the popularity of the product slowly diminished when synthetic one-a-day vitamins entered the marketplace. Consumers did not understand that Cerophyl provided much more than vitamins. That's why instead of marketing it as a multi-vitamin, Pines brought cereal grass back as a whole food, dark green, leafy vegetable.  We say Pines Wheat Grass is an economical and convenient, naturally-concentrated source of dark green vegetable nutrition.  We started preaching that message in 1976.  As a result, Pines Wheat Grass was the first "green superfood" in what is now known as the "green foods section" of natural food stores. Pines supplies many other companies with cereal grass and now owns the Cerophyl trademark. We thank the Schnabel family for their support and encouragement.  Through the lifetime of dedicated research by Charles F. Schnabel Sr., the nutrient density of cereal grass harvested at that special once-a-year time in the early spring is now a scientific fact.  His work has improved the health of countless people throughout the world.