[CliffC]

It's funny to hear someone wonder out loud if SteveD and I are the same person.  It feels like a bunch of skeptics ganging up on the ranting, crazy person.  Steve and I are indeed friends and he pointed me to this forum to ask if I had any ideas to contribute.

As far as quantifying the sense of smell, there is a portable test kit (Univ. of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test), but it is probably best used qualitatively or to track longitudinally over time on the same subject.  I don't know of a reliable test kit that is widely available that can dilute to parts/million accurately where you could quantify it, unless someone knows something otherwise.

I can understand that people will get inflamed if you look at some website promoting wheatgrass products, making claims that it cures cancer, AIDS, makes you live 20 years longer, whatever.  But if we say it may have some health benefits on a smaller scale which are yet to be determined, what is wrong with that premise and investigating it from there.  There might be some placebo effect as there is with any test, this could be controlled for in a well designed study.  However, it seems everyone else on this forum is ready to attack the person who even proposes that there may be some definite health benefits.  The studies cited that have NOT shown any benefits to wheatgrass, I do not accept as definitive either.  Let's just say that nothing is proven beyond a doubt to date, and everyone can eat, drink or take whatever they feel is best for them.

[Bored chemist]

Oops.
I should know better than to be careless in using coloquial English in specialist fields.
"Kit" in this case is another word for equipment so what I meant was "It would be quite a long experiment and would need some specialist equipment".
Most people don't have gas dilution systems about the place waiting for someone to need to do an odour threshold measurement.

[SteveD (OP)]

Observations:

Thursday, with one 8 ounce serving, there was increased sensitivity to moisture and temperature.
Friday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 2 discrete incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Saturday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 10 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Sunday,with two 8 ounce servings, I had 3 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Monday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 9 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.

I attribute Sunday's dip in frequency to the fact that the second serving of wheatgrass was stored, post juicing, in a refrigerator for two hours before being consumed. My partner, who also had 2 ounces from the same cutting asked "Has this been mixed with water". When wheatgrass oxidizes, the potency seems to decrease.

I once saw one of those crazy ads for wheatgrass at a college town juice bar. It said " Actually, you could eat nothing but wheatgrass". I do not believe that is true. From a practical point of view, my math indicates that to do that on a 2000 calorie/day diet you'd have to drink 8 ounces, every 25 minutes, for 16 hours a day. But, more importantly, I have found that there is a toxicity level, at least with my body, at about 48 ounces/day at which point gastrointestinal distress and cramping start to occur. So, there are limits

That being said, I plan to increase the dosage 50% tomorrow to three eight ounce servings to see if I can kick start the olfactory nerve a bit.

Steve D.

[_Stefan_]

Able to smell for 5-6 seconds at a time? What were you smelling? How long after you drank the wheat grass juice did this begin? How frequent were they? What was the total duration from first to last smell?

[SteveD (OP)]

Monday observations:

I could smell 7 times before the first wheatgrass serving
I could smell 2 times between the 1st serving  to the 2cd serving;
I could smell 39 times between the 2cd serving to 3rd serving.
I could smell 17 times after the 3rd serving.

The real surpise was I could taste five times today.
That was unexpected, although, since those two senses are related it makes sense.

I will continue at three 8 ounce servings tomorrow (Tuesday)

Steve D.

[SteveD (OP)]

Date corrections

Tuesday observations:

I could smell 7 times before the first wheatgrass serving
I could smell 2 times between the 1st serving  to the 2cd serving;
I could smell 39 times between the 2cd serving to 3rd serving.
I could smell 17 times after the 3rd serving.

The real surpise was I could taste five times today.
That was unexpected, although, since those two senses are related it makes sense.

I will continue at three 8 ounce servings tomorrow (Wednesday)

Steve D.

[_Stefan_]

Your observations don't mean much unless you can be more precise about them. You can start by answering my questions.

[Bored chemist]

SteveD, they don't mean much anyway because they may be entirely psychosomatic.
Until you can do a blind (and preferably double blind) trial you are not going to convince anyone.
Evidence is not the plural of anecdote.

[_Stefan_]

BC, exactly. I was hoping if he would answer my questions, we could go from there.

[SteveD (OP)]

SteveD, they don't mean much anyway because they may be entirely psychosomatic.
Until you can do a blind (and preferably double blind) trial you are not going to convince anyone.
Evidence is not the plural of anecdote.

BC,

I'm not trying to convince anyone.

I would be interested in learning new ways of learning about wheatgrass and it's uses ...and your suggestion of blind and double blind testing seems useful and interesting to me. As requested below, a simple, cost effective means to testing would be helpful. The testing needs not to be simply scholastic, but germain to the original question "Wheatgrass as a healing food?

Steve D.

I am grateful for your positive input which is what this thread was designed to create.
But most importantly, I am very interested to know how:
"Done properly you can set this up as a double blind test and see how your sense of smell is progressing."
If you would elucidate I would be grateful.

Steve D.

[SteveD (OP)]

Wednesday observations:

I could smell 0 times before the first wheatgrass serving
I could smell 19 times between the 1st serving  to the 2cd serving;
I could smell 13 times between the 2cd serving to 3rd serving.
I could smell 7  times after the 3rd serving.

I could, again, taste five times today.


Total results for the last seven days:

Thursday, with one 8 ounce serving, there was increased sensitivity to moisture and temperature.
Friday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 2 discrete incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Saturday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 10 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Sunday,with two 8 ounce servings, I had 3 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Monday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 9 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Tuesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had 65 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Wednesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  39 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste

I've also lost 3.6 pounds in the last seven day run of wheatgrass usage.


Steve D.

[SteveD (OP)]

Thursday observations:

I could smell 0 times before the first wheatgrass serving
I could smell 22 times between the 1st serving to the 2cd serving;
I could smell 0 times between the 2cd serving to 3rd serving.
I could smell 9  times after the 3rd serving.

I could taste twice today. It my be that the decrease in frequency is affected by an upper respiratory infection I started taking antibiotics for last night.
I've also noticed frequency of the ability to smell increases in peripatetic circumstances and decreases in sedentary circumstances, perhaps due, in the former circumstance, to the changing environments bringing on new smells, and increased lung use.


Total results for the last eight days:

Thursday, with one 8 ounce serving, there was increased sensitivity to moisture and temperature.
Friday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 2 discrete incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Saturday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 10 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Sunday,with two 8 ounce servings, I had 3 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Monday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 9 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Tuesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had 65 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Wednesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  39 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Thursday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  31 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and two incidences of being able to taste

I've  lost 3.6 pounds in the last eight day run of wheatgrass usage.

Unfortunately, with the increase in consumption from two eight ounce glasses to three eight ounces glasses of wheatgrass juice/day the supply is exhausted and will not be replenished for two days

Steve D.

[Madidus_Scientia]

Excellent. A two day rest from the spam.

[SteveD (OP)]

Friday observations:
No wheatgrass. 19 incidences of smell, 5 incidences of tasting

Saturday observations:
No wheatgrass. 5 incidences of smell, 2 incidences of tasting. Several incidences of perceiving temperature and moisture

Clearly the olfactory sense is diminishing. Starting tomorrow, Sunday, there will begin a fresh new supply of wheatgrass


Total results for the last  ten days:

Thursday, with one 8 ounce serving, there was increased sensitivity to moisture and temperature.
Friday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 2 discrete incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Saturday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 10 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Sunday,with two 8 ounce servings, I had 3 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Monday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 9 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Tuesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had 65 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Wednesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  39 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Thursday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  31 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and two incidences of being able to taste
Friday, with no wheatgrass. I had 19 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Saturday, with no wheatgrass. I had 5 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and two incidences of being able to taste

Steve D.

[dentstudent]

Steve - the best thing to do would be to find out how to do a scientific experiment. None of what you have done thus far is of any note scientifically, and is ultimately a waste of your time. Please note that I am not trying to belittle you, or say that what you are experiencing is not happening. What I am saying is that the way you are going about it is pointless and will not endear you to anyone here.

[SteveD (OP)]

Steve - the best thing to do would be to find out how to do a scientific experiment. None of what you have done thus far is of any note scientifically, and is ultimately a waste of your time. Please note that I am not trying to belittle you, or say that what you are experiencing is not happening. What I am saying is that the way you are going about it is pointless and will not endear you to anyone here.

Dentstudent,

LOL...I appreciate your feedback. I am getting better physically as a result of my experiments, regardless of the inchoate nature of my methods and that is this thread's point "Wheatgrass as a healing food".

As far as being 'endearing'. I think Cliff C. likes this and he's the only one who is addressing the original question posed on February 11, 2009. Does anyone have any positive experiences with wheatgrass?"

I remain, however, open to positive suggestions on how to use better methods to explore the use of wheatgrass as a healing food.

Steve D.

[SteveD (OP)]

...it's possible to measure the sense of smell.
It's perfectly possible and one of your stories even sugest broadly how to do it.
You dilute something which smells - like gas for example- and dilute it down till you can't smell it any more.
The dilution gives a measure of the effectivness of your sense of smell.
Done properly you can set this up as a double blind test and see how your sense of smmell is progressing.

Bored Chemist,

I have taken your suggestion and titrated one drop of peppermint in 2, 4, 6, and 8 pints of water.
In 2 pints the smell is quite apparent. In 8 pints it's virtually non-existant.
I'm thinking that if I get two bowls, one without peppermint, and have someone else put the single drop in it, and record the results with different quantites of wheatgrass, over time, we might be more...scientific.

PS...the use of gas was just too horrific


Steve D.

[_Stefan_]

Please remember that most treatments impart a placebo effect on the patient, regardless of the intrinsic therapeutic properties of the treatment. So you may well feel like you're getting physically better, but since you cannot control for the placebo, you can't actually attribute it to the wheat grass.

If you want to get scientific about testing for peppermint odor, I would suggest that you sit in a closed room while 1 person prepares the peppermint solutions in a different room. They should prepare multiple identical pairs of bowls, numbered, with the peppermint applied randomly. When that person is done, they can knock on your door and leave your presence before you open the door to begin the test. You can mark the bowls that you think contain peppermint. When you're done, your friend can analyze the results with you. Ideally you could repeat this on a different occasion that your sense of smell returns again.

It is usually easier to determine whether effects are being produced, than it is to determine the cause(s) of those effects.

[SteveD (OP)]

Sunday Observations:

No wheatgrass, 2 incidences of smell, two incidences of taste


Total results for the last  eleven days:

Thursday, with one 8 ounce serving, there was increased sensitivity to moisture and temperature.
Friday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 2 discrete incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Saturday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 10 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Sunday,with two 8 ounce servings, I had 3 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Monday, with two 8 ounce servings, I had 9 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds.
Tuesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had 65 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Wednesday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  39 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Thursday , with three 8 ounce servings, I had  31 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and two incidences of being able to taste

Friday, with no wheatgrass. I had 19 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and five incidences of being able to taste
Saturday, with no wheatgrass. I had 5 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and two incidences of being able to taste
Sunday, with no wheatgrass. I had 2 incidences of being able to smell for 5-6 seconds and two incidences of being able to taste

The capacity to smell continues to decline.

Steve D.

[SteveD (OP)]

If you want to get scientific about testing for peppermint odor, I would suggest that you sit in a closed room while 1 person prepares the peppermint solutions in a different room. They should prepare multiple identical pairs of bowls, numbered, with the peppermint applied randomly. When that person is done, they can knock on your door and leave your presence before you open the door to begin the test. You can mark the bowls that you think contain peppermint. When you're done, your friend can analyze the results with you. Ideally you could repeat this on a different occasion that your sense of smell returns again.

Stefen,

That was useful and positive.

Thanks,

Steve D.