Chlorella Growth Factor (CGF)

In the early 1950s, the Japanese researcher Fujimaki separated a previously undiscovered substance from a hot-water extract of chlorella that is now known as “Chlorella Growth Factor” (CGF). CGF is a nucleotide-peptide complex comprised mostly of nucleic acid derivatives. The sugars identified in the nucleotide include glucose, mannose, rhamnose, arabinose, galactose, and xylose. Amino acids found in the peptide include glutamine, alanine, serine, glycine, proline, asparagine, threonine, lysine, cysteine, tyrosine, and leucine.

It is known that CGF is produced during intense photosynthesis and enables chlorella to grow extremely rapidly. During this process, a single cell may multiply into four daughter cells as rapidly as every 20 hours. CGF not only promotes this rate of reproduction, but also is itself rapidly increased.

In Japan, Dr. Yoshiro Takechi showed that CGF stimulates lactobaccilus (the “good” bacteria) to grow at four times the usual rate. Experiments with microorganisms, young animals, and children have demonstrated that CGF promotes faster than normal growth. In adults and mature organisms, CGF appears to enhance the functions of nucleic acids at the cellular level that relate to the production of proteins, enzymes, and energy, as well as to stimulate tissue repair and offer protection against toxic substances at the cellular level.