Hi Alice P.,
there are existing studies on wheat grass effects, including iron chelation and - in relation to MDS - also touching the question of hematological improvement. For quantities who have been taken in by patients during the studies, please, look on my last posting in this thread. In my opinion this could be problematic point, because wheat grass differs in his (chelating) capacities depending on the age of the harvested grass and the climate where it grows. So you would not be able to be sure that - as you reported - 5 x 400 mg capsules would be the equivalent of 30ml of fresh wheatgrass. In Study 1 reported in the abovementioned thread children from 8+ got 8 x 500 mg = 4000 mg wheat grass tablets daily, and in the studies where they used fresh wheat grass the quantity was from 30 ml 2 times a day to 100 ml. Where did you get the information about the equivalent quantities you mentioned above?
I tried to correspondend with hematologists, recently wrote an email to Dr. Raza Azra with the compilation of studies i found on wheat grass, but i could not get any contact. The institutes in calcutta did not answer and there is no email indicated in the study. Also i tried to correspond with the corresponding author of one of the thal-studies, but did not get an answer. The reason for that could be in the fact that i am no medical doctor (juridical doctor) and that i was not consequent with that correspondence; never sent a "normal" letter..
It would be desireable to get better informations on wheat grass use for patients with MDS who cannot tolerate Exjade.
Could your doctor help?
From where did he/she get the infos about wheatgrass?
Recently i googled it but could not find younger studies.
Please look at the MDS-Study. The quantities of fresh wheat grass juice used there were 2 - 3 time higher than your equivalent. But maybe there are existing more experiences by treating hematologists:The time of the MDS-Studiy presented at the ASCO 2009 was only for 6 months, and many MDS - patients have to take a chelator for a longer time. There have not been reported considerab side effect,- but this should examined in the long term use. Also it could be important to know that "the west" seems to harvest wheat grass - which is known to be helpful for several health reasons- when it is already so old that its iron chelating properties have already decreased. For the best effect it could be helpful to take - if tablets or powder are used - very young wheat grass for the tablets or powder!
Miles to go - miles to go... these where the last words in the presenation to the wheat grass study MDS ASCO 2009. I guess the Indian Institute in Calcutta, member of INCTR would be very happy to get funds to be able to develop a "real" iron chelating medicament with the active wheat grass components, for which further chemical analyzes seem to be necessary. As long as the composition varies, such tablets, powder, capsules and the juice only are sort of natural products; alimentation..
Hope i could help you
Akita
http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfri...ic,3750.0.html