Latest news with #chlorophyll
Vogue
07-07-2025
- Health
- Vogue
Should You Be Spiking Your Water With Chlorophyll?
After one week of drinking chlorophyll in an effort to treat her acne, TikTok user @Ellietaylor929 reported a host of benefits, documenting them in daily videos and garnering a cool 3.3 million likes in the process. She is just one among many users on the platform creating #chlorophyll content—a hashtag that has racked up over 250 million views and counting. According to the e-commerce site Victoria Health, interest is booming: it reported that sales of the liquid supplement rose by 500% in one week. So, what is chlorophyll, and should we all be drinking it? TikTok content This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. What is chlorophyll? 'Chlorophyll is the green pigment that gives leaves, seaweed, algae, and vegetables their green color,' explains Shabir Daya, a pharmacist and the co-founder of Victoria Health. 'It absorbs sunlight and changes it into energy via photosynthesis. At a molecular level, it is almost identical to haemoglobin, the oxygen carrier in our blood. Some people refer to it as the 'blood' of plants.' As it turns out, chlorophyll is really nothing new in the health and wellness space. Daya explains that it was actually considered important to remedy a number of different health concerns back in the early 1900s, long before the days of TikTok. Used to treat ulcers, for pain relief and skin disorders, and even as a breath freshener, it was soon replaced by drugs and chemical antiseptics. But its myriad benefits never went away. What are the benefits of taking chlorophyll? Chlorophyll truly is a powerhouse ingredient. Here are the chlorophyll benefits you should know about now. 1. Reduces inflammation 'Chlorophyll neutralizes free radicals (in the body) and enhances their excretion, supporting optimal liver health,' Rhian Stephenson, nutritionist, naturopath, and founder of Artah, explains. 'This reduces inflammation and potentially lowers the risk of chronic disease.' 2. Supports happy skin 'Chlorophyll accelerates wound repair, reduces acne, and combats signs of aging by promoting collagen and reducing inflammation,' says Stephenson. A good way to think about chlorophyll, according to functional medicine practitioner, Ayurvedic doctor, and founder of The Murthy Clinic, Dr. Vijay Murthy, is as a gentle internal deodorizer and sponge. 'It's not an essential nutrient, but many people report better digestion, improved body odor, and clearer skin,' he says. 'However, more research is needed in humans to confirm these effects long term.' 3. Helps with oxygen delivery In our bodies, it works as a great oxygenator, helping our red blood cells take up oxygen, which makes them work more effectively and energetically, for overall good health (and all the good things that come with it, including radiant skin). 4. Promotes good liver function Chlorophyll has also been shown to prevent the absorption of dioxins—the pollutants found in many of the foods we eat, thanks to the use of herbicides—while helping the body to get rid of these toxins too. 'It promotes the liver's cleansing and detoxification process by its action on the detoxification enzymes produced by the liver,' says Daya.
Gizmodo
06-07-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
Edible Microlasers Could Revolutionize Food Tracking and Safety
In a delicious turn of events, scientists succeeded in taking the optics of olive oil to create the first-ever microlaser made entirely from edible materials. If commercialized, they could offer an easy and safe way to monitor food or medications from inside your body. The technology, introduced earlier this month in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, exploits an interesting tendency for droplets of common cooking oils, which emit a photon of light when subjected to a certain amount of energy. Arrange multiple droplets in a room full of mirrors, and together they shine more brightly—like a concentrated beam of light. The researchers tested more than a dozen different types of materials—sunflower oil, cooked butter, plain water, and more—to see which would generate the cleanest laser. And the winner was olive oil. One prominent component of olive oil is chlorophyll, the molecule most commonly known to make plants green. In this case, the chlorophyll molecules, trapped in the sticky surface of olive oils, generated photons in a chain reaction of sorts, transforming the droplet of olive oil into a laser. The brightness of the chlorophyll changes in accordance with the size and density of the oil droplets, making the laser highly sensitive to environmental conditions, according to the study. For example, adding it to different dishes of food and observing changes in the laser allowed the researchers to measure things such as sugar concentration or acidity What's more, the researchers were able to encode data within the droplets akin to the lines of a barcode, into a peach compote. Surprisingly, the data—the specific date of April 26, 2017, which happens to be the first international Stop Food Waste Date—remained intact for over a year, demonstrating the microlaser's potential to safely carry information, such as the identity of a manufacturer or an expiration date. 'Since this is the first such study, there are many possibilities for developing various edible lasers and their applications, which could ultimately find their way to everyday use,' the study authors concluded.
