What Drinking Chlorophyll Water Does For Your Body

You might remember the word "chlorophyll" from your grade school science class. Chlorophyll is created during the photosynthesis of a plant and it's what gives plants their green color. But did you know you could drink chlorophyll?

Chlorophyll supplements, either in liquid or tablet form, have become increasingly popular due to their suggested health benefits, although some doctors are still skeptical of how effective they actually are because of the limited research that has been done on chlorophyll as a dietary supplement (via Cleveland Clinic).

If you feel like you're not getting quite enough leafy greens in your normal diet, drinking chlorophyll water might be a good supplement for you to complement the healthy choices you're already making every day. It's unlikely to solve all of your health problems, and it's not a substitute for seeing a doctor when you need to. Still, it could give you that little boost that you need.

In addition to being a naturally occurring chemical in plants, chlorophyll is an antioxidant that can provide health benefits when taken as a supplement. However, when you buy chlorophyll supplements, it's more likely that you're actually getting what's called "chlorophyllin," the water-soluble version of chlorophyll (via MD Anderson).

All plants contain some kind of chlorophyll, but green vegetables like spinach and kale are the most chlorophyll-rich plants. You can consume chlorophyll by simply eating your veggies, which will also provide you fiber and other vitamins at the same time. In fact, the easiest and most cost-effective way to get chlorophyll into your body is by simply eating foods that naturally contain high amounts of it, like leafy greens (via WebMD). These greens include the aforementioned spinach and kale, as well as bok choy, collard greens, and chard.

So if you can get chlorophyll from naturally occurring vegetables, why are people drinking chlorophyll water? Some say that consuming chlorophyll water and taking supplements containing chlorophyll can provide you with health benefits beyond what a vegetable can give you (via Healthline).

According to supplement manufacturers, chlorophyll can provide benefits like weight loss, cancer prevention, detoxification, skin healing, and as a natural odor neutralizer (via Healthline). However, Healthline cautioned, "Research is currently limited. Additional studies are needed to characterize these potential benefits."

Although chlorophyll, or chlorophyllin, has been consumed by people for some time, some researchers studying the effects of it haven't reached human trials yet, like chlorophyll's effect on cancer (via WebMD). Taking chlorophyll as a dietary supplement is generally regarded as safe but shouldn't be the main source of your vitamins and antioxidants (via Cleveland Clinic). Negative side effects are usually limited to digestive problems like diarrhea.

You can still choose to buy chlorophyll supplements, of course. But if you do, you should treat them as supplements, not as a cure-all for any health problems that you might have or a replacement for eating fruits and vegetables.