Sunday 9 June 2013

CHLOROPHYLL,The Nature's Green Magic

Hi ! Welcome to my blog again ! Today i try to discover more about the chlorophyll.Chlorophyll is the green pigment that recognized as one of the richest natural sources of vital nutrients.As we know, Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to absorb energy from light.Chlorophyll gives leaves their green color and absorbs light that is used in photosynthesis. Chlorophyll is found in high concentrations in chloroplasts of plant cells. Plants rely on two forms of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b , which have slightly different light absorbing properties. All plants, algae, and cyanobacteria have chlorophyll a, since only this compound can pass an electron to acceptors in oxygen-producing photosynthetic reactions. Chlorophyll b absorbs light energy that is then transferred to chlorophyll a. Several protist groups such as brown algae and diatoms lack chlorophyll b but have another pigment. Research on the health benefits of chlorophyll has focused on the treatment and prevention of cancers such as liver cancer, skin cancer and colon cancer.The damages to genes' DNA by carcinogenic substances called aflatoxins was found to be prevented by chlorophyllin. Chlorophyllin is a derivative of chlorophyll in which the magnesium in its center is removed and replaced with copper. Research studies in humans have found that damage to DNA by aflatoxin can be decreased as much as 55% through supplementation with chlorophyllin at 100 milligrams, three times a day, for four months. All of the green vegetables in the World's Healthiest Foods - asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green cabbage, celery, collard greens, green beans, green peas, kale, leeks, green olives, parsley, romaine lettuce, sea vegetables, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnip greens are concentrated sources of chlorophyll. However, when green vegetables are cooked, the magnesium gets removed from the center of this ring structure and replaced by an atom of hydrogen. In biochemistry, the chlorophyll a gets turned into a molecule called pheophytin a, and the chlorophyll b gets turned into pheophytin b. It is totally clear that dramatic loss of chlorophyll occurs after prolonged cooking. Therefore, overcooking is particularly important to avoid when it comes to chlorophyll, but with very short steaming times, the chlorophyll content of these foods is preserved, and absorption of chlorophyll from these foods may actually be increased. Consumption of these green vegetables in raw form is also an excellent way to obtain the health benefits of chlorophyll.

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