PINES Wheatgrass FAQ

PINES Wheat Grass is the young wheat plant, grown under optimum conditions, carefully harvested at it’s nutritional maximum, dehydrated, and bottled for your convenience. For more FAQs and details, click on the following links:

• Jointing Stage: When Wheat Grass Reaches Maximum Nutrition
• Wheatgrass or Wheat Grass: The Differences Between Tray-Grown and PINES
• Nutritional Comparison: Common Green Vegetables vs PINES Wheat Grass

According to standards established by the US Food and Drug Administration, all PINES' products are gluten free, including PINES Wheat Grass. In fact, a wheat bread sandwich contains 74,285 times more gluten than a serving of PINES Wheat Grass.

Of all the FAQs, we like responding to this one the most. That’s because for 40 years, Pines has worked hard to promote organic farming.  In the early 1980s, we helped write the organic standards for Kansas, that later were used as one of the models for the national standards. Pines was the first green superfood company to qualify to put the USDA Logo on our products.  We have also now be approved to use the Non-GMO Project Verification on all our products.  Our alfalfa was the first to pass genetic testing and is the only one in the marketplace to carry that logo.

PINES Wheat Grass Powder, Barley Grass Powder, Green Duo Powder, Mighty Greens, Alfalfa Powder and Beet Juice Powder contain 100% organic ingredients.

PINES Wheat Grass Tablets, Barley Grass Tablets, and Alfalfa Tablets contain more than 98% organic ingredients with 1.5% silica, a naturally-occurring mineral compound, used to help the product flow through our tableting machine.

The contents of PINES Green Duo Capsules are 100% organic. The capsules themselves are vegetarian and vegan. We continue to look, but so far we have not been able to find capsules that are registered as certified organic.

Of all the FAQs, this might be the most important difference between PINES and the plethora of superfoods in plastic containers and packets. Plastic should NEVER be used for green superfoods.  To learn why, please click here.

Or put another way: what can eating enough green vegetables every day do for you?

Eating More Greens Protects Your Health

Hundreds of private and government studies suggest that increased consumption of vegetables may reduce incidence of cancer and heart disease, and lead to fewer health problems across the board. However, if you are in among the 9 of every 10 people who fail to eat at least 3-5 servings of vegetables every day, you clearly could use a convenient source of greens.

Economical & Convenient

PINES Wheat Grass is that source. In less than a minute a day and for about 25 cents, you can have a serving of a nutritious dark green vegetable. How is that possible? PINES Wheat Grass is nutritionally equivalent to a spinach salad, but much more concentrated.

How much more? Seven tablets or one teaspoon of powder supplies about the same nutrition as a serving of spinach.*

Our products are guaranteed, so give them a try for a month and see how you feel. If you’re not satisfied, we’ll refund your purchase price. It’s that simple.

* Based on a 50 gram serving of spinach

Of all the FAQs, this one comes up very frequently.  Allergies have become a very real problem. Some saying they are partially brought on by not eating enough dark green leafy vegetables and other fiber-rich and chlorophyll-rich foods, which help remove toxins. Certainly, we know that our green superfoods as well as most other green vegetables are not associated with allergies.  For one thing, all our products are gluten free.  For another allergy experts often recommend PINES to their clients because they know green vegetables do not cause allergies and may help to alleviate them.  Some people are allergic to the high mold and bacteria levels in wheatgrass grown improperly in trays.  Pines Wheat Grass is grown as nature intended and does not contain detectable levels of mold.

For PINES Wheat Grass, Barley Grass, or Alfalfa:

7 tablets or 1-1/4 teaspoon of powder (3.5 grams) is the recommended serving size.

Six Green Duo Capsules are a serving.

Our serving sizes are based on a 50 gram serving of spinach.  Nutritionists recommend at least three servings of vegetables per day, especially dark green leafy ones like those from PINES. The benefits of eating your greens every day come from consistency over time. That’s why we emphasize the convenience of our products. Even if you don’t eat spinach every day, PINES products are convenient and economical ways to increase your vegetable nutrition.

The USDA’s new MyPlate says that you should eat more vegetables than any other food. It really doesn’t matter when you eat your vegetables. Other primates such as gorillas are massive and strong animals with similar digestives systems to ours. They eat massive quantities of green. That is why nearly every health professional and even the government says vegetables should be the foundation for health.

Eat Your Veggies Before, After or With Your Meals

You may want to consume PINES Wheat Grass (or PINES Barley Grass, PINES Alfalfa, Green Duo or Mighty Greens) between meals with a good amount of water or other liquid. This helps your body take full advantage of the nutrients without competing with other foods, and may also take the edge off your hunger so you don’t eat as much at meals. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon are great times for a green energy pick-me-up.

However, what’s most important is that you use our greens at a whatever time that is convenient for you, including before, with or after your meal. The important point is that you eat plenty of greens every day. For some people, that means right away in the morning, or right before bed. That way you are sure to start or end your day on a healthy note.

Green Duo Capsules are a great way to make sure your kids eat plenty of greens. And while they are easy to swallow, if your kids put up a fight, don't let it turn into a battle. An easier solution might be to incorporate any of PINES’ Green Superfood powders into an infinite number of recipes, which they won't even notice.

Yes, definitely, all PINES’ products are Non-GMO Project Verified.

The World’s First Non-GMO Verified Alfalfa

PINES Alfalfa was the first alfalfa of any kind to be Non-GMO Project Verified. It continues to be the only whole leaf alfalfa for humans to be Verified.  It is also the only alfalfa that is dark green!  That’s because like our wheatgrass and barley grass, after we directly harvest our alfalfa with out it ever touching the ground, we immediately dry all our products and then store them either in below freezing temperatures or in nitrogen to protect them from oxidation.

To begin with, PINES' products are much fresher than any other green superfood because of the way we package them. We vacuum out the air from each glass bottle and replace it with an oxygen-free atmosphere. This prevents the loss of nutrients and color that happen when green superfoods are packaged in plastic tubs or packets.

As an extra precaution, you can keep the bottle frozen between uses.  If will further slow oxidation. However, even if you store the bottle at room temperature, our special metal caps creates a tight seal. This greatly limits oxidation between uses.

For more about this subject, please click here.

It is true that only ruminant animals like cows can digest the cellulose fiber in grass and other green vegetables. Their digestive systems allow them to obtain energy from cellulose. Cellulose fiber is in most foods, and most animals cannot digest it. Although all other animals besides ruminant animals cannot digest cellulose fiber in green plant material, they can digest everything else, especially if it is dried and made into a fine powder. Animals such as horses, baboons, guinea pigs and many other rodents, whose diets are almost exclusively grass, cannot digest the cellulose in grass but live almost entirely off the other components. Their digestive systems are more like humans than cows, and like humans, they cannot digest the cellulose.

Even Though Not Digestible, We Need Cellulose

Just because we cannot digest cellulose doesn’t mean we don’t need it. We need whole food greens like wheatgrass, spinach and kale. Cellulose fiber makes food more digestible, not less. The roughage of whole food vegetables supports healthy intestinal function.

Whole foods containing fiber are considered prebiotic.  That means they support the growth of probiotic bacteria. Those are the “friendly” bacteria which are essential for thorough digestion. Recent studies show that removing the juice from vegetables and not consuming the fiber may not be a good thing. Without cellulose, probiotic bacteria cannot thrive. That can lead to other bacteria attacking the mucosa layer of the colon.

Whether dehydrated or fresh, all vegetables have cell walls. Obviously, since juicing vegetables is a relatively new idea, our digestive system must be able to digest vegetables with cell walls or none of us would be here.

Clearly, vegetables do not need to be made into a juice to “break down the cell wall.”  Further, it does not matter whether the vegetable is fresh or a dehydrated powder.  In fact, vegetable powders are easier to digest because they are milled much finer than anyone could possibly chew the vegetable. As far as dehydration is concerned, for thousands of years our species has dehydrated foods in season for later use.

Whether cereal grass is somehow unique and has to be used only as a juice, dehydrated cereal grass powder was used for all the extensive positive medical research published by Ann Wigmore and other authors. If the powder could not be digested, it would not have produced the significant results in the medical journals.

Regardless of the kind of whole food vegetable or whether it is dried or fresh, the bodies of humans and all other mammals are very capable of breaking down the cell wall and digesting plants and extracting nutrients. Grasses are no different. History of the use of whole food grass powders for humans and other animals is extensive and very positive.

Frankly, the mistaken belief that digestion can’t break down the cell wall of vegetables leads people to believe juice must be extracted from vegetables.  Obviously, that is not true. For millions of years, all mammals have eaten grasses and other vegetables in the whole food form and have survived very well.

With the recent research showing that vegetables with the fiber still intact are essential for probiotic bacteria, juicing machines are giving way to blenders, NutriBullets, Vitamixes, etc. These whole food blending machines allow people to drink whole food vegetables instead of depending on extracted juice. Smoothies are now much more popular than juice because they still provide prebiotic effects. Adding a teaspoon of nutrient-dense green powders from PINES is a great way to fortify any smoothie to add another serving of a green vegetable to the mix. 

Eating whole foods allows the fiber to remain after digestion and serve as a roughage to support probiotic bacteria.  This article points out the fallacy of needing to juice a vegetable to “break down” the cell wall and the danger of depending on juices rather than whole foods. It also indicates that if one uses juice, adding a teaspoon of cereal grass powder from PINES will aid in the digestion of the juice by providing media for probiotic bacteria.

Regardless of the kind of whole food vegetable or whether it's dried or fresh, the digestive systems of humans and all other mammals is very capable of digesting plants and extracting nutrients.

One of the popular FAQs concerns Ann Wigmore.  Dr. Wigmore praised the research findings of Dr. Charles Schnabel. We follow Schnabel’s standards for growing, harvesting and drying wheatgrass.  Another author, Steve Meyerowitz, called Schnabel “The Father of Wheatgrass” and dedicated his popular wheatgrass book to him.  We also follow Ann Wigmore, who recommended harvesting plants at their peak of nutrition for use at other times of the year.