Medicine: Chlorophyll for Colds

Green and red are the colors of life: green for the chlorophyll in plants, red for the hemoglobin in blood cells of man and animal. That red-blooded human beings must eat green leaves, every housewife knows. Several years ago, Professor Benjamin Gruskin of Philadelphia's Temple University followed up this housewifely line. He wanted to see if chlorophyll could fortify body cells which had been invaded by bacteria. He persuaded 18 of his colleagues to use a chlorophyll preparation (usually made from nettles) in their daily practice, and note what happened.

Last week, in the American Journal of Surgery, Dr. Gruskin announced some notable results. Chlorophyll treatment had been used in 1,200 cases of infection, ranging from peritonitis to pyorrhea and the common cold. For lung and brain abscesses, abdominal infections like peritonitis, a solution of chlorophyll in salt water was applied directly to the infected surfaces, either in wet dressings or through soft rubber tubes. "Indolent" ulcers and "weeping" skin diseases were treated with a paste of chlorophyll and lanolin. Since chlorophyll is bland and soothing, said Dr. Gruskin, it has a great advantage over many standard antiseptics, which are harsh and irritating. Even "floods" of chlorophyll, he continued, do no harm to living tissues.

Chlorophyll's most spectacular success was in the relief of sinus infections and common colds. In more than 1,000 cases treated at Temple University Hospital by Drs. Robert Ferguson Ridpath and Thomas Carroll Davis, there was "not a single case recorded in which either improvement or cure . . . [did] not take place." Patients with mild colds snuffled chlorophyll nose drops once a day. Those with severe sinus infections wore chlorophyll packs or had large amounts of chlorophyll pumped up their noses once every other day for periods as long as several months.

Dr. Gruskin is not sure how chlorophyll works. He thinks that: 1) "in some physicochemical manner" it increases the resistance of cells to bacteria; 2) it releases oxygen, prevents bacteria from forming poisons.