Daily consumption of wheat grass juice has a beneficial effect on transfusion requirements of thalassemia patients, a finding that brings good news to thousands of children suffering from this inherited blood disorder.

Repeated blood transfusions are the only remedy for this disorder. Now paediatricians at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh have found that the juice extracted from the pulp of wheat grass has the potential to lower transfusion requirements of thalassemics.

R K Marwaha and his colleagues carried out a pilot study on 16 children suffering from thalassemia. They were asked to consume 100 ml (about one glass) of wheat grass juice daily. Families of patients raised the wheat grass at home in kitchen gardens or in pots.

After recording the observations for a year, the doctors found that blood transfusion requirements fell by more than 25 per cent in 50 per cent of the patients with a decrease of over 40 per cent in three of these.

No adverse effects were noticed, the doctors have reported in the Indian Paediatrics journal.

The doctors said their scientific investigation into the effect of wheat grass juice was prompted by beneficial effects in some of their patients who had been taking the juice on their own.

The doctors said that they are trying to evaluate the efficacy of dried extract of wheat grass that may help overcome the cumbersome procedure of extracting fresh wheat grass juice.