In my practice as a registered dietitian my patients sometimes ask me about gut health remedies. On Instagram @AndreaHardyRD, I talk all about chlorophyll and whether or not you should be drinking it!
Does drinking chlorophyll cleanse your intestines?🍃
I was hoping this topic would die before I had to dive down the TikTok rabbit hole, but here I am, drowning misinformation about the green drink.
Funny story – when I was about 12, chlorophyll had a bit of a hay-day. My best friends mom had it, and me and my BFF would drink it because we thought it would get us out of eating our vegetables.
Fast forward 20+ years and chlorophyll is BACK. Funny how the thought process hasn’t really changed around it!
Chlorophyll is essentially the green pigment in plants that helps convert light to plant energy.
We consume chlorophyll regularly when we eat plants! It does have some antioxidant-like activity in the body, but frankly, hasn’t been researched a ton.
Chlorophyl supplements on the other hand are even less studied. They are not chlorophyll in its most natural form, rather a derivative of chlorophyll – often found in pills, or currently trending, liquid form.
�The claim is, chlorophyll can cure acne, prevent cancer and even ‘cleanse’ your intestine. 🤮
Facts?
Chlorophyll is NOT researched for any of this. You’re better off getting your chlorophyll from whole plants, along with all the other nutrients rather than a silly supplement (surprise surprise). While it may not be beneficial, chlorophyll likely doesn’t pose any major risks – other than a hit to your wallet and if you’re really lucky, some green poop!
One caveat:
Chlorophyll supplements have a history of use in managing odor with ostomy output. While there is little evidence to support this, some of my patients in the past have experimented with using chlorophyll supplements to reduce odors from their ostomy bags. I get mixed reviews – which has me thinking it’s probably not overly effective – however, this is a great example of where the potential benefit of quality of life out-weighs the risk of expense for a patient.
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