Green Foods: A research perspective

Consumers are increasingly recognizing the value of green foods, now
researchers and the medical community are catching up.

By David Sandoval, President & CEO, Organic By Nature, Long Beach, CA

This article in a nutshell:
¥ Green foods' role in cancer prevention
¥ Research beginnings
¥ The function of green foods
¥ What lies ahead

The number of companies with green food offerings has increased steadily
since the late 1970s when the second green food revolution was being led
by the likes of Anne Wigmore, Bernard Jensen, Christopher Hills and
Victoras Kulvinskas. These luminaries were building on work from the
1930s, the banyan days of the first green food revolution when Dr.
Charles Schnabel, V.E. Irons and a host of chemists and researchers from
the Mayo Clinic first reported to the American Chemical Society that
eating green leaves from cereal grass (wheat, barley, oats, rye)
provided every known nutrient necessary for human health except vitamin D.

Today the third green food revolution is here to stay and not
surprisingly scores, if not hundreds, of marketing companies have taken
notice of what appears to be an ever expanding customer base both in the
U.S. and worldwide. Armed with published studies, amazing testimonials
and public service announcements by government institutions to "eat
five-a-day," the green foods segment is winning the hearts and minds of
some of the most renowned doctors and oncologists in the U.S. This
includes Dr. Keith Block from the Block Medical Center, Evanston, IL,
who offers green foods to cancer patients as part of an integrative therapy program.
Additionally, Gary Null Ph.D., who is one of America’s most outspoken
health advocates, has been an avid promoter of green foods for over 30
years.

Green Foods & Cancer Prevention
"Scientist have discovered that green juices increase the oxygenation of
the body, purify the blood and organs, aid in the metabolism of
nutrients and counteract acids and toxins. Green juices are the
superstars of the nutrition world."
As scientists gain more insight into the cause of cancers, it is
becoming increasingly clear that the focus of treatment must change
dramatically. While many researchers have become convinced, most

medical doctors and oncologists are still overcoming their
previously deep rooted belief in the genetic origin of cancers. This belief has
virtually discredited those who focus on lifestyle modification and a
disease preventive diet as the primary defense against cancer, and since
doctors thought genetics were the cause, surgery, medications and
chemotherapy became widely accepted as the best "reaction" to the
"genetic" malfunction.
All of that is changing with current revelations provided by the human
genome project, indicating that only 20% of all cancer is genetically
linked. This paradigm changing revelation has lead many researchers to
turn their attention to phyto chemistry, which is the study of
plant-based compounds that act as cellular antioxidants. Recently a
unanimous chorus has gone up among doctors, dietitians and nutritionist
to significantly increase the amount of green-pigmented foods people get
in their diet. The reason for this is because a huge body of scientific
evidence currently indicates that green foods may be the most important
part of a disease prevention and life extending diet.
Take for example the April 1999 Issue of the Harvard Health Letter.
According to Harvard researchers, one of the most important steps anyone
can take to avoid cancer is to consume more deep green-pigmented foods.
With cancer rates climbing, researchers noted that this type of dietary
change must be the first line of defense. (Note: Over 1 million cases
are diagnosed each year!)
At the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, Dr. Tim Beyors
has seen how adding green foods to even the best diet can increase
cancer prevention dramatically. Studies at the CDC show that people who
eat a high fiber, low fat diet can decrease their risk for colon/rectal
cancer by less than 10%. However, adding five servings of greens to the
same low fat, high fiber diet the risk fell by nearly 40%.
Other studies show a lack of green vegetables increases breast cancer
risk nearly 25%, with skin cancer results being very similar. While
these studies focused on green leafy vegetables, sea greens have also
been impressive in human studies conducted at UC Davis by T.L. Mao, Jean
De Water and M.E. Gershwin. These studies published in the Journal of
Medicinal Foods shows certain sea plants with green and blue pigments
induce interleukin (IL)-1§,IL-4 and interferon (IFN).
In fact, after only two weeks of oral ingestion (of spirulina
platensis), IFN increased as much as 13 times. (Note: These are
important to cellular defense and increase macrophage activity, an
important aspect of fighting cancer.)

Research Beginnings

So, where did the research begin? All of it is somehow either inspired
by or is a continuation of the functional foods program that operated
under Dr.Herb Pierson from the National Cancer Institute (NCI),
Bethesda, MD. He convinced the U.S. Government to fund $20 million in
research into the disease preventive aspect of food. It was Dr. Pierson
who coined the term "phytochemical" to describe the yet unidentified
compounds in food that help prevent disease. He was also a pioneer in
documenting the cancer-fighting compounds in green foods such as endole
carbinole 3 and sulphurophane through his support of research on
broccoli.
With the overwhelming amount of new research being published every year,
it is inevitable that botanists, chemists and others will catalogue an
infinite number of endoles, bioflavanoids and polyphenolic compounds in
green plants in the future. However, we need to examine the form and
function of green plants to fully understand their place in nature’s
apothecary.
We know chlorophyll as the pigment that makes plants green. But it is
Chlorophyll's amazing similarity to hemoglobin that is the first clue to
it's potential. Form follows function. As chlorophyll performs
photosynthesis, it is exposed to hours of ultraviolet and radioactive
light. As a byproduct of this, damage is done to the plant’s nucleic
acids causing oxidative stress. In reaction, green plants develop an
array of unique bioflavanoids that act as blocking agents or others that
act as repairing and suppressing agents. Recent research has shown that
those green plant activities can be transferred to the humans who
consume them. In fact, scientists have documented green plant’s effect
on cellular rejuvenation and the DNA repair in human cells. One study
conducted at UC San Diego showed a component of green leaves from young
barley plants to promote the repair of DNA significantly when compared
to the control group. This study was conducted by a team led by Dr.
Hotta and Dr. Kubuto.

The Function of Green Foods

Green foods may be the most effective natural cure for osteoporosis,
arthritis, diabetes, low energy, gaseous stomach and most important
cancer. In order to understand how green foods work, any preconceived
ideas about nutrition must be put aside. While green foods contain a
host of vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, chlorophyll and more,
they are actually catalysts that support chemical chain reactions within
the body.

Most cancers start when incomplete chemical reactions occur
during digestion, respiration and elimination, which create acidic toxic
waste in the body that ultimately interferes with cellular replication.
Each cell in the body is responsible for replicating itself. During
cellular reproduction, chromosomes split into chromatides and reassemble
into genes. If they do not match up properly, cellular defects cause
aging, bone loss, heart disease and cancer. Green foods help "balance
the body" and create an environment where cancer is unlikely to occur.

Low pH or over acidity in the system is often the root cause of many
diseases. It begins when the blood is deprived of alkaline ash food that
creates a low alkaline buffer reserve in the tissue, alkaline ash foods
are foods that when burned leave an alkaline residue, we also call these
alkaline forming foods. As the alkaline reserve is "used up" by our
blood, acidity begins to increase in other organs and stress normal
metabolic function. To combat the formation of lactic, uric and other
damaging acids, the body will leach calcium from the bones to "buffer"
and neutralize these acids. Unfortunately this causes bone loss,
arthritis and ultimately osteoporosis. Another defensive measure is to
store the ammonia acids in the kidneys in an attempt to conserve the
alkaline buffer reserve. This ultimately leads to kidney stones, hormone
imbalance and contributes to the cellular stress that leads to cancer.
The leading cause of low pH and over acidity is the consumption of
processed foods (carbohydrates, sugar, white flour), meat, protein and
carbonated beverages. Of course the best way to create a strong alkaline
reserve is to consume alkaline ash foods like green foods, which will in
turn balance the pH of the body allowing other important aspects of
immune defense to be unleashed. However, as important as pH is, it is
only one aspect of green food nutrition, and cancer is only
one of many ailments that green foods may be helpful in preventing.

Summary

Today 83% of Americans who die suffer from some form of chronic disease,
and with life expectancy at an all time high it is time for change. In
Roman times the average life span was a mere 22 years old, while today
at least people are reaching ages well into the 100s (Jean Colment of
France at 122 years old.)
As a society, Japan leads the life expectancy race, with an average of
80 years, while American women come in at a close second with a 78+ year
average. The stark realization that any extended lifespan comes with an
increased likelihood of developing chronic degenerative conditions has
driven home the message echoing from the voice of the father of medicine
himself who said, "Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your
food."
While researchers continue to achieve unprecedented success with cancer
treatments, it may be 10-20 years before the most promising treatments
become widely available. With 1.2 million Americans diagnosed with
cancer last year alone, an aging baby boomer population is running out
of time. Today with the scientific validation of green foods as a
disease-fighter, the gray generation may soon become the green
generation.

About the author:
David Sandoval is president and CEO of Organic By Nature, Long Beach, CA.