A wheatgrass extract opens my mind to natural remedies
In 1995, when I was working as a general practitioner in Melbourne, Australia, to prescribe a 'natural' remedy rather than a pharmaceutical would likely be frowned upon by medical colleagues. Therefore, when I was given a wheatgrass extract-based cream that reputedly healed a large wound on a racehorse’s fetlock - in 3 weeks, (Figs. 1 and 2), when veterinary surgeons had failed after 9 months with orthodox treatments, I assumed it to be another "quack" remedy, dropped it in my bag and forgot about it.
Not long afterwards, I was asked to visit 80 year-old Alan, a retired bookmaker who had been suffering from severe pain caused by an “incurable” leg ulcer, at his home. (Fig. 3.) He had received almost daily wound care from domiciliary nurses for more than two years but was still in constant pain. Unsurprisingly, he pleaded for “some stronger medicine” (a narcotic), which, due to addiction risk, I had to refuse and somehow think of another way out.
Then, I had an idea. If the wheatgrass cream in my bag could heal a horse’s wound, maybe, it could work for a human?
With Alan’s approval, I spread a small blob of the cream thinly over the wound, covered it with a light dressing then left, promising to return the next morning.
I walked the floor that night, wondering if I had done the wrong thing, but the cream was sterile and contained no “negative” ingredients. Then, to my amazement, when I returned the next morning, Alan answered the doorbell telling me he’d had a painless night’s sleep for the first time in six months, and he was now walking pain-free!
Then, when I removed his dressing, I was amazed to find that the thick scab that covered his wound the day before, (which could normally take many days to remove by manual bathing, had simply disappeared! (Fig. 3.) Also, the wound surface was completely dry and covered with a transparent, but protective membrane. And, according to his wife, Alan had slept soundly through the night for the first time in two years.
Clearly, I had witnssed a healing phenomenon, and before long, I would find numerous medical conditions and injuries that also responded well to the extract such as venous leg ulcers, second-degree burns - even leprosy ulcers - when no "modern" medical treatment could compete. For instance, in Figure 4, the extract has not only in a few minutes, relieved the pain of a second degree burn but also prevented blistering. Before wheatgrass extract was applied, the patient's skin was reddish-blue, blistered and swollen. Two hours later, the skin is pain-free and the blister surface remains intact, reducing the risk of infection.
Furthermore, in Figure 5, the patient has suffered severe, deep burns due to radiation therapy. These wounds can take weeks, even months, to heal and for the pain to ease. To my knowledge, there are no topical medicines that can ease burn pain, but if wheatgrass extract is applied before and after treatment, it can significantly relieve post-treatment pain and accelerate healing of the treated area as seen in the photographs. (Note: The burn area should be sprayed with wheatgrass extract just before and soon after radiation for most effectve pain relief and wound recovery.
But how could a plant extract instigate such rapid recovery of such burn-damaged tissue?
Fig. 5. Severe 2nd degree radiotherapy burns that wheatgrass extract healed in 2 weeks.
Note that inflammation is almost eliminated and the wounds have completely healed, and that the patient is pain-free. Such rapid recovery is rare following radiation treatment. (Read the full story and more about treating burns with wheatgrass extract.)
Wheatgrass extract appears to restore cell receptor dysfunction
The ten dotted links below illustrate how effectively wheatgass extract can accelerate the healing process - often instantaneously.
The broad spectrum of ligands that exist in the extract appear to re-activate dormant or damaged cell receptors thereby assisting recovery of a variety of internal and external medical conditions and injuries. For example, conditions affecting the skin, blood circulation, gastro-intestinal disorders and many more. This list is only a small fraction of the potential therapeutic properties wheatgrass extract contains.
"Wheatgrass extract influences gene expression." World-renowned scientist
Many thousands of therapeutic responses by wheatgrass extract suggest it is capable of influencing gene expression. Given that the extract contains at least 20 ligands, it is highly likely they can re-activate dysfunctional cellular receptors. Many clnical observations of therapeutic effects by the extract, often when orthodox treatment has failed, support this concept. For instance, an elderly female was relieved of the pain of reflex sympathetic dystrophy immediately following application of a minute amount of the extract to her affected forearm. This phenomenon was followed by complete restoration of blood flow to the affected limb in just a few minutes - even though this condition was considered to be irreversible.
Gene expression is a process by which information encoded in a gene is used to either make molecules that code to produce proteins or to make non-coding RNA molecules that serve other functions. i.e. by working as a type of “on/off switch”. Gene expression is also carefully regulated, changing according to the requirements of various conditions. (See: National Human Genome Research Institute.)
Having used the extract for about 5 years for successfully treating numerous medical conditions and injuries, (Examples: Topical Steroid Withdrawal, Omphalocele). it seemed to me to facilitate or restore "re-connection" of disconnected or dysfunctional sensory receptors, to the brain.
Having observed numerous, accelerated therapeutic responses - and often complete recoveries - it occurred to me that the extract could be influencing gene expression of a broad spectrum of cell receptors such as pain, which the extract frequently relieved. (Later, it would become obvious that a broad spectrum of receptor cells were being affected.)
On 28th July, 2004, Professor Ioannou, at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, who was seeking a natural remedy that might assist treatment for thalassemic children, requested a sample of the wheatgrass extract he had read about on my website. His laboratory being close to my office, I took him a sample, and a few days later, he notified me that: "the wheatgrass extract had induced fetal hemoglobin in three separate murine (mouse) cell clones, and strongly influenced gene expression". (Figure 6.) 
The professor continued: "These results, albeit in vitro, increased the possibility that the beneficial effects of freshly juiced wheatgrass noted by Marwaha, et al. [an Indian hematologist], may have been due to the induction of gamma-globin chain synthesis leading to greater fetal hemoglobin content in the red cell (via the influence of gene expression).
He continued: "Clearly, this hypothesis needs further study, but it holds the promise of some very exciting and simple therapeutic possibilities that may preclude the need for repeated blood transfusions.”
Panos, aged 54 and in his professional prime, tragically succumbed to cancer on 18 April, 2005. Unfortunately, his important discovery that may have aided the quality and longevitty of many thalassemic and other sufferers, was, for some unknown reason, quietly forgotten.
How wheatgrass extract helps relieve pain
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents most drugs (other than very small molecules) from passing into and influencing the brain. By comparison, ligands in wheatgrass extract, because they activate cell receptors that are actually located on nerve endings, can signal the brain instantaneously, which can often be observed in clinical practice.
Also, ligands are molecules that influence cell-receptor DNA to release neurotransmitters that send messages such as pain, pressure, taste, vision, touch etc., to the brain. So, for instance, to achieve pain relief, (Figure 8), it appears that pain, both topical and internal, can be blocked by the extract (up to 98 percent), from reaching the brain.
Disconnected receptor cells re-connected by wheatgrass extract
Figure 7, shows how wheatgrass extract may prevent pain from reaching the brain. Even a small injury can lead to complex tissue damage such as bleeding, nerve damage to skin, muscles and blood vessels etc. However, ligands present in wheatgrass extract appear to re-activate damaged or dysfunctional cell receptors which then re-couple with the brain so that recovery can follow. As would be expected, responses vary according to the severity of tissue damage, the patient's age, general health status, and many other factors.
Figure 8 shows how pain cell receptors signal pain from a pin prick to the brain via the neurotransmitter, Substance P. The "victim" instantly draws his/her hand away. Then, if wheatgass extract is applied to the painful area, it helps ease pain by blocking Substance P from reaching the brain.
(Note, some "infertile" women have conceived by taking a small dose of wheatgrass extract daily - possibly, because it 'normalises' the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), so vital to conception.)
Wheatgrass extract restores leprous and chronic spider bite wounds to normal
To achieve healing of leprosy and Buruli ulcers (due to similar mycobacteria), defies modern medicine - yet wheatgrass extract can heal both. For instance, all treatment attempts for this patient's 9 year old leprous ulcer, (Fig. 9.) failed completely, yet after just six, once-monthly applications of wheatgrass extract, his foot completely healed. (View more cases.)
Another remarkable healing case of a non-healing (9 years) spider bite in Figure 10, speaks for itself, but the question remains as to how the wheatgrass extract achieved such a remarkable recovery.
Similarly, in Figure 11, note positive changes in the patient's psoriatic lesions just 2 months since the extract was first applied. These lesions failed to respond to a variety of applications, including 15 years of topical steroids, which appear to have severely thinned and damaged the skin's complex structure along with many protective and other cell types. Clearly, after 2 months' treatment (twice monthly) with wheatgrass extract, the lesions have significantly darkened and enlarged. My interpretation is that this is not a negative result. Instead, it suggests that the wheatgrass extract has "re-coupled" cell receptors in the affected area to the brain, resulting in restoration of blood supply to the affected areas and deepening in colour of the darkened patches. 
Probably, "re-coupling" of sensory receptors from the periphery (skin), to the brain has restored numerous physiological functions in the skin-damaged areas, such as blood supply and lymphatic drainage. (Red arrows) It is also likely the patient ceased using the extract, thinking that the darkening and enlargement of the skin lesions could be negative signs.
To me, treatment should be directed towards "re-coupling" steroid-damaged areas on the skin with the brain, rather than do more damage with steroids. This can usually be achieved by stopping all medications and using only wheatgrass extract once or twice weekly. It may take several months, but if the patient can bear the steroid withdrawal symptoms, the skin can in time, recover completely.
This basic principle of sparingly using wheatgrass extract is important because it applies to the treatment of most, if not all, other medical conditions and injuries - internally and externally. For example, in Figure 10, this supposedly "incurable" spider bite wound defied medical treatment for nine years, has healed rapidly following wheatgrass extract treatment.
It appears to me that these "negative" changes are the result of peripheral cell receptors losing contact with the brain, i.e."de-coupling". This in turn leads to inadequate blood supply reaching the area, which in this case is causing skin dryness, cracking etc., and "lifeless" pallid lesions. Other steroid-caused symptoms, such as weeping skin, pain, erosion and infection are also common, but can be overcome by perseverance with topical wheatgrass extract.
Also, the 17-year-old girl in Figure 12 had suffered from psoriasis for three years, but topical steroids failed her. By comparison, wheatgrass extract applied once weekly, repaired her skin completely in four months. This was probably due to wheatgrass extract restoring numerous physiological processes such as blood supply, cell receptor functionality, etc., to the brain - via 'neuronal re-coupling' where there has been remarkable recovery of dysfunctional cell receptors.
Most drug treatments for psoriasis (and eczema) such as topical steroids, can reduce inflammation, but can do nothing to restore the skin's damaged structure and multiple functions. In fact, they do more damage and expose the skin to infection and often expose it to severe topical steroid withdrawal symptoms.
Compared with the patient in Figure 11, the remarkable response of this teenage girl's skin to wheatgrass extract, suggests that age is an important factor for predicting the patient's likely response to it.
Wheatgrass extract removes psoriatic plaques, restoring skin almost to normal in 2 weeks
Just two weeks after wheatgrass extract was applied to the affected area, (Fig. 13.) there has been remarkable recovery of the patient's skin after two applications. The large areas of thick plaque have almost disappeared, revealing normal skin underneath. This suggests there has been a rapid "re-connection" (re-coupling) between the psoriatically damaged skin area and the brain which has then responded to help restore the patient's skin to normal. Also, in this case, the patient is young, which could also help expedite the healing process.
This case also suggests that psoriasis might develop due to dysfunction of cell receptors near the skin surface. This concept may also be the cause of other conditions such as skin disorders, hemorrhage, pain, itch etc. that often respond well to wheatgrass extract