Dear Sproutman,
I believe grasses and sprouts are always best in the fresh state. How close to the original fresh is powdered or all the other methods. I have heard that none of the other methods contain more than 5% of the original nutritional value. Surely there must be a laboratory study out there that can tell me? –Frank, Danbury, CT

Dear Frank,
This 5% number you quote is balderdash. It’s amazing how muddled and corrupted real information can get. And a true answer requires more discussion than can be offered on a blog. But my basic answer is that at their best, there is good value in all the forms of wheat grass. Each has their advantages and disadvantages, but all are useful.

Of course, there are qualitative differences, especially with dried wheatgrass juice. The method of processing makes all the difference. However, the same can be said for fresh wheatgrass. Fresh grass grown by an expert is definitely more potent than grass grown by average folks. Also keep in mind that because of the nature of this topic, it tends to attract some dogmatic responses. So you are going to find positions that exclaim the virtues of one form of grass at the exclusion of all the others. I go into a full discussion on the comparisons between the different forms of wheatgrass in Wheatgrass Nature’s finest Medicine including nutritional comparison charts and scientific research. Spend some time with it. There is something good to be gained from all the different forms of grass, which by the way, also includes Barley Grass.