An important medical breakthrough - Thalassemia Treatment

CHANDIGARH (India) - A medical research institute in India has developed a technique using wheatgrass juice to treat patients suffering from the painful blood disease thalassaemia, a doctor said on Thursday. ‘Three years ago we came across a thalassaemic child whose transfusion requirement was on the decline,’ said Dr R.K. Marwaha, head of the hematology-oncology division of the Institute of Medicine and Research. ‘We were surprised and asked his parents about his diet and found he was drinking wheat grass juice every day. We decided to start therapy trials.’ He said the trials are being conducted on 16 children by orally administering those 100 ml of the juice every day or 12 wheat grass tables of 0.5 g each, ‘The result is a great success.

The frequency of blood transfusion from once in a fortnight has gone down to once in three months and the blood requirement of 50 per cent of the children has decreased by 25 per cent.’ ‘Their haemoglobin count has also remained above the normal mark,’ Dr Marwaha said.

Thalassemia major, which is what these children are suffering from, is a relatively common hereditary disorder, particularly in people of Mediterranean, African and South-East Asian ancestry. It is caused by defective haemoglobin synthesis which leads to severe anemia and numerous other symptoms and the need for frequent blood transfusions.

It appears that Professor Marwaha has made an important medical breakthrough. Also, being a pediatrician, oncologist and hematologist, he may well expand his research into other areas where patients may benefit from this simple but frequently effective therapy. I have been in touch with his office in Bombay to let him know of my own interest in wheatgrass and that I may have something to contribute. Having to take 100 ml of wheatgrass juice daily must have been quite an ordeal for some of those ill children.

For more details on Smile Wheat Grass visit www.freewebs.com/smilewheatgrass

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Lipoblastomas are circumscribed while lipoblastomatosis is diffuse and infiltrative. It is important to completely excise the tumor to avoid leaving residual rumor and to prevent recurrences which mostly occur within 2 years. Confusion with myxoid liposarcoma. Well-differentiated liposarcorna, and typical lipomas may occur

Anup Mohta. Ritesh K. Anand. Department of Surgery, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and University, Cal kgc of Medical Sciences, Delhi 11006, India 

Wheat Grass Juice in Thalassemia

The recent communication (1) and the article (2) about beneficial effects of wheat grass juice (WGJ) in thalassemia patients were interesting. The possible explanation for beneficial effect of wheat grass juice WGJ) in thalassemia could be as follows:

Taking a look at heme synthesis, it takes place partially in mitochondria and partially in cytosol. The 1st step in heme synthesis— condensation of succinyl CoA and glycine to form aminolevtilinic acid—is the rate-limiting step. Hence, synthesis of heme can occur at a limited rate. Iron gets incorporated in protoporphyrin in the final step only (3).

Comparing chemical structure of chlorophyll and heme (4) we find that they have strikingly similar structure each having 4 pyrrole rings, with some differences in side attachments, and at centre, there is iron in heme and magnesium in chlorophyll considering kinetics of iron absorption. it is known that heme iron is absorbed much better than any other form( 5). and hence perhaps chlorophyll also. Considering all these facts together, it is possible that when we give wheat grass juice to patients of thalassemia.

Chlorophyll (being structurally similar to heme), gets absorbed rapidly and to a large extent. At cellular level (in bone marrow), the cells get almost a “readymade molecule”, which after few changes, can be converted to heme. Thus heme production occurs faster.

Since heme production occurs faster, goblin chains combine with it and form less of in soluble inclusion bodies, hence less destruction of RBCs. Thus the RBC’ life span is prolonged. Perhaps studies with radio-isotope labeled WGJ can help us understand absorption, transport and fate of ingested chlorophyll.

S. Neeta Pole.12, Sudlia Vthar, Rainpur, Jabalpur, MP432 003, India.

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    * THALASSEMIA Male child, Age 6 Yrs

    This child started having fits and reoccurring fever. Various treatments did not result into improvements. Testing of blood samples revealed that the production of blood in his body was inadequate. There is so solution to this problem other than giving blood transfusion at required intervals. This child was given transfusion every fifteen days. Fed up of the agony his child was undergoing, his father approached Nature Cure Center to know about Wheatgrass as an alternative therapy and immediately started the course along with diet plans. Within one and a half months his blood transfusion could be skipped as the blood production improved. After another few months, the requirement for blood transfusion was not needed. After this the child was kept on maintenance dose for 3 months after which his condition was noted to be normal.

For more details on Smile Wheat Grass visit www.freewebs.com/smilewheatgrass

Hi,

I hope you will find several members on this site that have benefited from W.G juice. Feel free to read their posts in the thread:

http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=105.0

Do you all really believe that Wheatgrass juice can do such wonders:)...
Wheatgrass will keep you healthy in other ways like digestion, guard against cold, cough etc.. use of wheatgrass will keep yopu generally healthy.. but I am sorry to say, I dont think it can keep transfusions away from Beta Thals...
If it did.. we would have all come to know of this breakthrough.. I dont know if WG will help Thal Inters.. but it cannot do away with transfusions.
My daughter is on the WG spray ( from australia) for the past 3/4 years. she is generally in good health.. but transfusions are still a part of her life along with Exjade..
And she leads an excellent life !!

Hi Shikha,

W.G is NOT a cure. It just induces HbF in SOME Thals. (especially Intermedias) who have somewhat ability for induced HbF production like Hydroxyurea and resveratrol etc.

hiiiiiii ,
      wheat grass i think is a real help 2 all of us hmmm
my daughter was hardly 2 yrs old when i read about this in a book n followed it n really u wont b able 2 believe her haemoglobin use to go till 6 or 7 at the end of the mnth but aftr givin her the wheatgrass juice her hb levels were 10.5  . i gave her this juice 4 2 mnths n even the doc was happy by these resultscos it was when hardly nyone knew bout this therapy,n the doc told us tht if by nxt mnth her hb was 11 we wont transfuse her but again there was a problem    :whatwith her she had aaan umblical  :consolehernia since birth n the problem aggraavated n we had 2 operate it n as it is at such a young age of 2 she aws already goin thru so mch pain due 2 whch she was cranky so we had to stop it as she was not ready to take it agin n then we shifted to sme other place where wheatgrass aws not avilable then we started growin wg at our home but she aws stubborn n if we forced her she puked n we couldnt continue this therapy but again i feel i would definitely try it again for sure....