Chlorophyll Side Effects — Detoxification

In the past, many people have complained of chlorophyll side effects, that they felt like they were coming down with a fever after taking it, with all kinds of aches, pains, nausea, headaches and dizziness.  What those people don’t realize is that the side effects of chlorophyll are generally the result of the detoxification process, and not directly from the chlorophyll itself.  Let me explain what I mean.  As you grow older, eating all kinds of things and being exposed to many different types of toxins — preservatives, pesticides, smog, alcohol, heavy metals — your body begins to store them in different places.  These toxins often become lodged in place and are very difficult to move from their final resting place.

But then you start taking chlorophyll and all of a sudden, the chlorophyll starts binding to the stored toxins and causing them to release back into your bloodstream to be processed and removed.  Even though this is a very good thing, from your body’s standpoint, your bloodstream is now full of toxins.  So you start feeling lousy, with aches, pains, fever, headaches, nausea and more.  One technical name for this is the Herxheimer Reaction.  It describes what happens to a body that’s suddenly loaded with toxins.  It’s almost as though you’re suffering from a hangover.  It’s a very similar condition.  After a night of too much alcohol, your body rebels at the high level of toxins that were in your bloodstream that it had to process and remove.  You pay for it by staying in bed the whole next day.

The main chlorophyll side effects comes as the result of detoxification.  If you take chlorophyll and start feeling symptoms of fever, aches, headaches, and more, then chances are, it’s working very well.  That generally means that your body has a lot of stored toxins that it’s finally getting the chance to deal with.  That being said however, it is possible that you might have an allergy to something in the chlorophyll product you’re taking.  Chances that you’re actually allergic to chlorophyll itself are very low, since chlorophyll is everywhere in plants and is of a very similar makeup to components in human blood.  But just be careful.  Each person is different.  If your chlorophyll side effects persist, then you might want to stop taking it for awhile or seek medical attention.

Allergic Reaction to Chlorophyll

Sometimes, as with any food, people can have an allergic reaction to chlorophyll substances.  The allergy is most likely not due to the chlorophyll itself, but more likely the plant that contains the chlorophyll.  Most of the time, when a person takes chlorophyll, they eat a plant substance that’s high in chlorophyll, like wheatgrass powder or Chlorella.  If they have an allergic reaction, it’s probably to something else other than the chlorophyll.  Chlorophyll so closely resembles the hema of human hemoglobin that developing an allergy to it is very uncommon.

But the tricky thing is that because of the side effects of detoxification, which we’ll talk about in the next post, many people have thought they were allergic to foods high in chlorophyll.  Because of how detoxification works, a person may develop flu-like symptoms that can make them believe they’ve suffered from an allergic reaction.  Though allergic reaction is possible, people are more likely suffering the side effects of detoxification rather than an allergic reaction to chlorophyll or whatever food they ate which was high in chlorophyll.

For example, a friend of mine once thought that he was allergic to cilantro.  Every time he would eat it he would feel aches, nausea and feverish.  It took him awhile to narrow it down, but after awhile he came to the conclusion that he was slightly allergic to cilantro.  While this is possible, the more likely explanation is that the cilantro, which is very rich in chlorophyll, was causing the detoxification process to start, binding to and releasing many toxins into his bloodstream for filtering out of his system.  Because of the sudden release of toxins, his body would exhibit symptoms similar to the early stages of the flu.  So while an allergy is possible, the more likely explanation is that the cilantro was doing its job and helping to release toxins for processing.

I don’t know if my friend ever started eating cilantro or if he still believes himself to be allergic to it, but if you’re taking chlorophyll of some form and think you might be allergic to the supplement you’re taking, you might want to try switching to another form of chlorophyll and see if the new stuff has the same effect.  For example, if you’re already taking wheatgrass and it’s making you feel terrible, then maybe switch to Chlorella and see if you’re showing the same symptoms.

Chlorophyll Side Effects

It has been reported that one of the possible chlorophyll side effects is a sensitivity to light on the skin.  Many medical professionals advise that persons taking chlorophyll should wear extra sunscreen when spending time outdoors.  To me, that’s quite odd.  I’ve done a lot of research and can’t seem to find any evidence for why chlorophyll would cause a skin sensitivity to sunlight.  It’s not as though the chlorophyll is going to cause us to photosyntesize and start producing energy from the light of the sun (although that would be very cool).

If I were to take a guess, I would say that skin sensitivity from chlorophyll was most likely due to the detoxification process, which we’ll talk more about in the next post.  The skin is the largest organ on the human body.  It’s also one of the main places where your body stores toxins.  The main reason behind storing toxins in your skin is because your body is hoping that through sweating, the toxins will be expelled from your body and washed away.  But most people in our modern culture don’t sweat very often.  And so the toxins begin to build and accumulate.  On some people, you’ll even begin to see spots, sometimes referred to as liver spots.

But when a person begins taking chlorophyll, toxins are released from their stored position and sent back into the system.  This can cause a general nauseous feeling and can make a person extra sensitive to their environment in general.  It could be the case that since many toxins that were once stored in the skin are now being released, but are still in the general vicinity of the skin, it could cause the skin to be sensitive.  I’m not saying that that’s definitely what’s going on, but it could play a large part in the sensitivity that has been reported as one of chlorophyll’s side effects.  Above and beyond that, there are no reported side effects from taking chlorophyll, but in the next post, you’ll see that there are some side effects that arise from the detoxification process.