Natural Does Not Equal Safe: Debunking the Myths of Chlorophyll and Royal Jelly, and the Deadly Germanium Poisoning

Chlorophyll is essential for plants to convert light energy into matter through photosynthesis. While chlorophyll has a similar chemical structure to heme, it's unreasonable to assume it's like "green blood" with special functions. Furthermore, enzymes are extremely important substances in life, numbering in the thousands. These thousands of enzymes each play their respective roles within the body and are naturally crucial. However, the so-called "active enzymes" have little value.

While digestive enzymes can aid digestion, taking them indiscriminately if one has a stomach ulcer may actually digest the stomach lining, worsening the condition. Royal jelly has a surprising effect: feeding young bees with royal jelly can help them develop into queen bees. However, young bees differ significantly from humans in their physiological functions, so expecting royal jelly to have the same surprising effects on humans is unrealistic. Although royal jelly contains many nutrients, they are present in milligrams and are extremely expensive, making it essentially meaningless from a nutritional supplement perspective.

To supplement nutrition, there are nearly complete foods readily available and inexpensive. Milk is a nearly complete food. Calves can grow by drinking milk, therefore milk contains all the substances necessary for a calf's growth. While the nutritional needs of calves and growing adults are not exactly the same, they are not significantly different; therefore, milk is a very close to a complete food. Eggs, once hatched, become chicks. That is to say, eggs should contain all the nutrients and energy needed to form chicks.

Egg whites are a high-quality protein with the most balanced amino acids. If there's any drawback to eggs, it's their relatively low price. Perhaps this is why those who don't mind spending money on expensive health foods overlook eggs! Even health foods can contain carcinogens. Low concentrations of harmful substances can be found in potentially carcinogenic foods. For example, silage (a perennial plant in the Boraginaceae family), once popular as a health food, contains tetrahydropyrrole alkaloids, which are carcinogenic.

Feeding rats with powdered *Pteris vittata* can cause cancer. Fern shoots contain cycasin, a known carcinogen. Cyanide is known to be found in plums, dried plums, and prunes. Under normal circumstances, the concentrations of these substances are very low, thus rarely causing poisoning. However, many health foods concentrate these substances. Many people are unaware that naturally occurring harmful substances, which would not pose a problem due to their low concentrations, become unsafe in health foods.

For example, extracts from dried plums contain a significant concentration of cyanic acid, leading to cases of poisoning from consuming them. Generally, it's best to choose safe and reliable foods based on long-term human experience. Health foods made from ingredients typically not consumed, such as venomous snake meat, shark oil, or rare plants, may not be safe if consumed in large quantities or continuously. Even small amounts can cause various health problems in individuals with sensitivities or specific constitutions; there are numerous examples of this.

Chlorella has a high chlorophyll content, approximately 3%–4% (spinach has about 2%). Chlorophyll is easily decomposed by heating and drying. This decomposition produces pheophytin and pyropheophytin. Ingesting these substances can cause photosensitivity and dermatitis. Pyropheophytin has a photosensitizing effect dozens of times greater than pheophytin. Furthermore, there have been cases of photosensitivity occurring in livestock when alfalfa leaves are heated and fed to them. Due to the high chlorophyll content of Chlorella, chlorophyll decomposition products are also easily generated during the processing of Chlorella or the preservation of Chlorella preparations.

Even under sunlight or electric light, the chlorophyll in Chlorella powder will decompose. Around 1977, there were cases of poisoning caused by Chlorella tablets. In this case, the minimum toxic dose of pheophytic chlorophyll was 25 mg per day. Although pickled green vegetables also contain these decomposition products of chlorophyll, the amount consumed is generally small and therefore safe. Even now, cases of poisoning from consuming Chlorella preparations still occur occasionally. Chlorella remains the most common cause of accidents related to health foods.

Germanium is widely found in nature, including in soil. It is also ingested in trace amounts daily through foods such as vegetables and grains. This amount of germanium is quickly excreted from the body and does not accumulate, thus posing no harm to health. Organic germanium is found in medicinal herbs such as ginseng, goji berries, and garlic. Currently, traditional Chinese medicine is very popular, so the reputation of these herbs is rising. Some manufacturers, seeing this potential, have begun synthesizing organic germanium or developing immunomodulators. The anti-cancer effects of organic germanium are also being studied in other countries.

Against this backdrop, the development of health foods containing added organic germanium has become increasingly popular, with over 60 products, including mineral water, capsules, and beverages, already on the market. These health foods are advertised as effective in preventing and treating cancer, diabetes, and liver disease. However, the germanium in most of these health foods is inorganic germanium oxide. Inorganic germanium oxide is easily absorbed through the intestines and accumulates in the epithelial cells of the kidneys and ureters, causing cell degeneration and functional decline, and potentially leading to nephritis.

Since 1982, cases of health damage caused by continuous consumption of health foods containing high concentrations of germanium have been reported in various medical journals. According to a report from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's research group on "The Effects of Germanium on the Human Body," 23 patients developed kidney dysfunction due to continuous consumption of health foods containing germanium oxide, of whom 6 died. This means that one-quarter of patients who developed kidney dysfunction as a result lost their lives. The initial symptoms included nausea, loss of appetite, and fatigue, gradually progressing to weight loss, anemia, muscle atrophy, and peripheral nerve disorders such as numbness in the hands and feet.

Many patients, despite having damaged kidneys, show no detectable protein in their urine. Because routine examinations often fail to detect it, these patients continue to consume germanium-containing foods, leading to a worsening of their symptoms. Of the six people who died from consuming germanium-containing foods, the average daily intake of germanium was 260 mg. One case involved a 41-year-old man who died after drinking mineral water fortified with 2000 mg of germanium daily for 100 days. Another victim was a 6-year-old girl. Her mother, concerned about her child's delayed speech, heard that germanium was effective and bought her germanium-fortified beverages, averaging about 90 mg of germanium daily, for one year and seven months, ultimately resulting in her death.