The emerald green concoction has gone viral on TikTok, and groceries have seen a surge in purchases. Does it live up to the hype?
What’s the Deal With Liquid Chlorophyll?
You may have seen it on your TikTok For You page: liquid chlorophyll, a drinkable emerald green concoction that looks like it's sourced from a spring found in the Land of Oz. Actually, you’ve almost definitely seen it. As of this writing, #chlorophyll has over 250 million views. The hashtag is full of videos by teens and twentysomethings chugging it on camera, the particularly dedicated even sharing daily updates.
Groceries and health stores are struggling to keep up: online delivery service Instacart reported that on April 13, liquid chlorophyll orders were up a staggering 741 percent. Meanwhile, wellness brand Sakara Life saw their liquid chlorophyll sales double overnight on April 8.
So what, exactly, is the deal with liquid chlorophyll—and why is everyone obsessed with it?
If you need a 9th grade biology refresher: chlorophyll is a pigment found in plants that is used to make energy (aka photosynthesis). It also gives them their leafy green color. For the past few years, putting a few liquified drops (technically called chlorophyllin) or powder into your drinking water has become popular in the alternative wellness world.
Goop wrote about chlorophyll’s benefits for gut health back in 2017. Two years later, Kourtney Kardashian sung its praises on Poosh: “Drinking alkaline water or spiking my filtered water with minerals or liquid chlorophyll makes me feel like I’m multitasking by staying hydrated while also getting important nutrients my body needs and can’t always get from food.” Meanwhile, Press Juicery has been featuring chlorophyll water in its cleanses since at least 2015. (“Perfect to boost hydration,” they write.)
However, as wonderful as good gut microbiomes are, they don’t explain why chlorophyll went viral on Tiktok. Especially since over 25 percent of TikTok users are teens, who, well, aren’t really thinking about gut health at this point in their young lives. Instead they’re focused on an entirely different organ: their skin.
“Honestly shocked,” user @marycjskinner captioned her Tiktok chronicling chlorophyll’s day-by-day effect on her rosacea, set to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu.” It has two million likes. Another, @ellietaylor929, showed improvement in her skin from one week of drinking chlorophyll. Posted March 29, it’s racked up 3 million views—and is arguably the video that ignited the trend. Hundreds more teen TikTokers have shown off its effects on their acne, pimples, or otherwise inflamed faces.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Elise Taylor
