Drink touting health benefits from chlorophyll has little chlorophyll in it according to an independent lab
The FOX 5 I-Team told you about a woman who claimed to be a doctor who then treated a cancer patient near the end of his life.
That treatment lead to a theft by deception complaint filed against her with Clayton County police and a practicing medicine without a license complaint filed with the Medical Board.
Her name is Azalea Blalock, and we met her at her home pitching a product she sells called gkChlorophyll. The I-Team ordered a bottle of it from her Web Page. We went undercover to pick it up. She was happy to sing its praises.
"I had cancer, ovarian cancer. When I was 21. I'm 52 now. That's how I got better, it was through the chlorophyll. (No way?) Yeah. yeah," Blalock told us.
gkCholorphyll is wheatgrass, kudzu, and cilantro, according to its label. She insists, it works wonders.
"It cleanses the blood. So kudzu repairs the liver. Wheatgrass takes the toxins out of the body. Cilantro takes the heavy metals," Blalock said.
All for 50 bucks a gallon. She calls herself Dr. Azalea on her web page and social media. But there is no record of her being any kind of doctor with the Georgia Medical Board.
"I thought she was a doctor because that's the way she introduced herself," Valerie Hamlin told us.
The I-Team has already told you how Valerie Hamlin feels Azalea Blalock conned her and her husband out of $22,230. Mike had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Valerie says Azalea told them she was a doctor and tried a variety of holistic treatments on Mike.
I talked to her at her home.
(Why do you tell people you are a doctor?) "Because I am," Blalock insisted
Azalea Blalock later texted us to say she never claimed to be "a MEDICAL DR. I am holistic healer based on Ecclisatical (sp) law."
Valerie says once she learned Azalea was not a licensed medical doctor in Georgia, she took her husband back home to Michigan. He died soon after.
Valerie filed a theft by deception police report stating Azalea Blalock told her she "could treat cancer patient" but "she found out that the suspect was not a real doctor."
Mike’ Hamlin's IV nurse, LaTrese Ellis, also filed a formal complaint with the Georgia Medical Board accusing Azalea Blalock of practicing medicine without a license.
Calling herself Dr. Azalea, she also heavily promotes her gkChlorphyll drink on social media and her web page. The drink’s label says it’s good for almost everything: blood cleanser, immune builder, tumors, hair growth, pain, cancer, libido, diabetes, heart, kidneys even acne.
"First of all, there is very limited research that supports the benefits of it," said Steph Grasso.
The wild claims were no surprise to Steph Grasso. The registered dietician and nutritionist has seen exaggerated claims about liquid chlorophyll all over social media. It bothered her so much, she made a Tik Tok video telling people if they want more chlorophyll in their diets – eat more green vegetables.
The video’s been viewed 5 million times.
"I would not recommend this product. I would you know, recommend to having a balanced diet, full of fruits and vegetables, drinking your water, getting some movement every day. That's actually more important than drinking this gallon of nonsense," said Grasso.
So, what’s in it? The ingredients are on the label, but we wanted to know for sure and decided to have it tested. Specifically, we wanted to know how much Chlorophyll is in gkChlorophyll?
Well, the answer was quite a surprise. As it turns out, not much at all. In fact, the lab wrote us back to say:" The data shows there is essentially no chlorophyll….in the product."
We told Azalea Blalock what the lab found, and she texted us to say: "there is nothing but the herb plant itself used in the product fresh the chlorophyll is the plant."
She also sent pictures of gkchlorophyll customers.
"We all have friends family or parents who have told you if it is too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true," said Dr. Warner Huh
Dr. Warner Huh is a renowned obstetrician and gynecologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical School. He told us it is in his experience, it is not unusual for late-stage cancer patients to turn to alternative treatments, at the end, looking for a miracle.
"It just hurts my soul to see people be at a time when they should be vulnerable, that people sometimes take advantage of it. I think there are some individuals who are somewhat unscrupulous that take advantage of that. I think it hurts to see that, said Dr. Huh.
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