Celery Juice: The Truth, the Benefits & the Research

I was going to call this guide “Celery Juice Benefits Humans Since 700BC!”…

…as it feels like celery has only been good for us since the start of last year!

In truth, celery IS an amazing plant and always has been.

It is full of nutrients, is strongly alkaline-forming, antioxidant-rich and anti-inflammatory (making it one of my favorite “Triple-A” foods), and it can have remarkable benefits as part of a nutrient-rich lifestyle.

BUT – celery on it’s own is not a miracle worker.

It is a powerful team player. And in truth, I am so glad that it has been given this extra focus over the last year or so because so many people are consuming so much more of it.

And this guide is my honest low-down on celery and celery juice…

Since Anthony William has single-handedly trebled the price of celery with his Medical Medium celery juice craze I’ve had gazillions of people reach out to me with questions, concerns, and basically requests for this guide and my opinion on the celery juice phenomenon.

So today I will give you the full picture.

I DO love celery, but you should be doing more with it than just juicing, and the benefits that even Anthony (and his Spirit) are only really scratching the surface.

So let’s dig in and find out the how, why and what now(?) of celery and celery juice.

What Is In Celery That Is Making it SO Powerful (and Popular)?

Celery is a wonderfully nutritious food.

It has long been seen as simply a source of fiber, and erroneously given a ‘weight loss’ benefit by calling it a ‘negative calorie food’ (it is not, it does not burn more calories than it contains, not that calories mean anything for weight loss anyway).

But celery is so much more than this! And celery juice benefits so many health challenges – we need to take a closer look!

It is full of alkaline minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, it also contains specific nutrients to help the detoxification process PLUS it is a high-water, high-fiber food too.

Although this does not paint the whole picture (at all), here’s the nutrient profile of one cup of chopped, raw celery (approx 100 grams):

The little known phytonutrients including molybdenum, apigenin, phenolic acids, luteolin and more are proven to be incredibly powerful for our health.

I’ve been recommending this high alkaline food for over 15 years (in fact it’s in my 7 Most Alkaline Foods guide too) because of these super-alkaline benefits.

And this is one of the reasons why people are getting such great results, seemingly so simply, by having celery juice each morning.

The bottom line is that you absolutely SHOULD include celery in your diet in abundance, and pure, fresh vegetable juice is absolutely phenomenal – BUT…

Please don’t limit your juices to just celery.

The results you’re seeing on social media are from these people juicing celery, absolutely.

But I strongly believe that if these people were including a wider range of alkaline foods in their juice (like kale, spinach and so on) they would get an even greater benefit.

If they added more nutrients, more anti-inflammatories, more alkalinity then the benefit would be far more impressive.

By having a fresh celery juice each morning they ARE having a fresh alkaline green juice every day. Remember – celery juice is alkaline!

Yes, it’s just celery.

But, wow, compared to NOT having a big 16oz glass of celery juice each day? It is no wonder they are seeing and feeling a difference.

PLUS, I have also found in the last fifteen years that when people start their day with something healthy and nourishing like this – they tend to watch their food intake more closely throughout the day too – they don’t want to throw away their hard work of juicing by eating junk food later in the day.

Plus there ALSO is the net effect of having the celery juice instead of what they might otherwise have had that would have been health-robbing – a coffee, tea with milk and sugar, gluten-containing breakfast items and so on.

I am not saying Anthony is wrong, or that the celery juice isn’t helping, I’m just saying that there is more to it than just celery juice…

The Bottom Line Is…

Celery DOES have amazing benefits and I want you to know that you SHOULD definitely be including celery in your alkaline, green juices and your daily diet as much as possible!

But please don’t focus all of your energy on JUST celery, OR more importantly, don’t restrict your juices to just celery juice!

Celery is such an important part of your diet and I do want you to start including a whole lot more of it, and here’s why:

The Many Benefits of Celery (Some Will Surprise You!)

1. Celery is Highly Alkaline & Essential for Stomach Acid Balance (Essential)

Thanks to that combination of manganese, potassium, folate, magnesium, natural cell salts, high water content and more – celery is a hugely alkaline vegetable. It is in my list of “The Most Alkaline Foods” and I would love for you to have it as often as possible!

And celery’s most powerful alkaline-forming benefit is in its role in digestion and that essential balance of hydrochloric acid and sodium bicarbonate.

This is the principle reason Anthony William recommends celery juice in his Medical Medium books – this alkaline-forming effect of celery during the first stage of digestion.

Why?

Because celery helps to increase the production of hydrochloric acid.

Wait…what? ACID???

Yep, to maintain your correct pH balance your body NEEDS you to be able to effectively produce hydrochloric acid. It is one of the biggest misunderstandings of the alkaline diet, and something so many critics fail to understand.

The goal of the alkaline diet isn’t to make the body ‘more alkaline’ – the goal of the alkaline diet is to SUPPORT the body in MAINTAINING it’s delicate pH balances throughout the body – including the stomach, which in it’s resting state is only mildly acidic.

Once we eat a food, the stomach will then produce the right amount of hydrochloric acid on-demand (the stomach is not just a big pit of acid waiting for food to drop into), and then the essential amount of sodium bicarbonate and other alkaline juices to increase the pH of your semi-digested food because the next phase of digestion (in the duodenum) is alkaline.

Disruption to this delicate balancing act is one of the first places that the outcome of an overly acidic, Standard American (Western) Diet shows up – digestive issues.

A super simple example is acid reflux or GERD. These almost always a result of an acidic diet – because the acid-forming foods like chips, pizza, soda, sugar, etc. do not stimulate the body to produce the hydrochloric acid…and when the hydrochloric acid is very low this does not then stimulate the body to produce sodium bicarbonate to neutralize the acid.

In other words – too little stomach acid equals too little alkaline sodium bicarbonate to neutralize the acids in the food you eat and reflux quickly follows.

We could go deep on the topic of digestion and be here for days. But I want you to know that this is so important. When the pH of the semi-digested food you’ve eaten remains too acidic and improperly digested as it leaves the stomach and passes into the duodenum, ileum, jejenum and then onto your small intestine – all hell breaks loose.

This overly-acidic food mush (called chime) leads to SIBO, Crohn’s, autoimmune (the acidic chime in the small intestine contributes to tiny holes forming in the intestine and food passing back into the bloodstream a.k.a. leaky gut), fibromyalgia, candida overgrowth and so much more.

Celery is powerful at assisting the body in regulating this important balance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach LONG after you’ve consumed it.

As Anthony mentions:

“If hydrochloric acid levels are out of balance or low, your food won’t be sufficiently digested in your stomach. That means the food won’t break down enough for your cells to access the nutrients, and instead, the food will just sit there and rot, causing bad acids to develop.”

A lot of alkaline-forming foods have a net alkaline effect when consumed, which is awesome of course. But celery’s alkaline-forming effects go on long after you have eaten it.

2. Celery is Anti-Inflammatory

Celery contains antioxidants and polysaccharides that are known to act as anti-inflammatories, especially flavonoid and polyphenol antioxidants. These support overall health, especially as someone ages, by fighting free radical damage (or oxidative stress) that can lead to inflammation. Inflammation is often a contributing cause of chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, arthritis and many more.

Researchers have identified over a dozen different types of antioxidants that are responsible for the benefits of celery. These include such phenolic acids as caffeic acid and ferulic acid, plus flavaols like quercetin. This makes celery useful for treating a wide range of conditions that are made worse by inflammation: joint pain (such as from arthritis), gout, kidney and liver infections, skin disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, and urinary tract infections, just to name a few.

3. Celery is Antioxidant-Rich

Alongside the well-known antioxidants like vitamin C and flavonoids, research has uncovered over a dozen other antioxidant nutrients in celery. These antioxidants include zeaxanthin, lutein, lunularin, quercetin, kaempferol, and betacarotene as well as furanocoumarins like bergapten and psoralen (hugely supportive for the liver by the way).

The antioxidants in celery help protect us against oxidative damage to our cells, blood vessels, and organ systems – commonly known as ‘premature aging’!

4. Celery Helps Detoxify

Celery contains strong levels of the micronutrient molybdenum which is directly essential in helping the body remove heavy metals (alongside selenium and lithium), but it also helps the body’s detoxification process through its essential role in the balance of sulfur and its activity of an enzyme called sulfite oxidase (SO).

SO is responsible for a huge amount of the body’s detoxification taking place, especially in the liver. Molybdenum is therefore so important in support of liver detoxification, antioxidant support, connect tissue development and so much more because of this widespread importance of sulfur balance.

5. Celery May Have Strong Cancer-Protective Benefits

Celery stalks and leaves are a great source apigenin – a compound that is receiving huge interest due to the discovery of its potential to fight cancer – both in vitro and in vivo by initiating apoptosis and autophagy, as well as stimulating an immune response.

In this study published in the Journal of Molecular Carcinogenesis researchers found that “apigenin exerts chemopreventive action”.

And in this published study in the Journal of Cancer Protection, the researchers found that “A further role of apigenin in chemoprevention is the induction of autophagy in several human cancer cell lines.”

It doesn’t end there – celery also contains the flavonoid luteolin, which has also been shown to be cancer-protective. In this study in the Journal of Current Cancer Drug Targets, the researchers found that the presence of luteolin renders cancer cells more vulnerable to therapeutic agents.

Luteolin may also be especially effective in reducing women’s’ risk of triple-negative breast cancer and pancreatic cancer.

6. Celery May Be Cardio-Protective

The anti-inflammatory benefits mentioned a moment ago may also be protective for your heart by lowering blood pressure, lowering LDL and raising HDL cholesterol. Celery contains a phytochemical called phthalides, and it relaxes the tissues of the artery walls to increase blood flow and reduce blood pressure.

A 2013 study found that, when given celery extract for 8 weeks subjects experienced a reduction in their blood lipids, including LDL “bad” cholesterol, and triglycerides.

Sounds Great! So, Should We Be Drinking Celery Juice Every Day?

Yes and no.

On face value, celery juice is getting rave reviews (mostly) with lots of Instagram posts to prove it. But, as I mentioned earlier, this could be (and really, is, in my opinion) due to the fact that people are taking their normal AM beverages and in many cases food – things like coffee, tea, milk, sugar, sugary breakfasts, bacon, eggs, toast, jam, etc. and they are replacing it with a vegetable juice.

Now, this vegetable juice is 100% celery, and that’s great…BUT…it would be even more powerful if it were a proper green juice made from a variety of the most nutrient-dense foods on Earth.

To me, the biggest benefit that the Medical Medium protocol is suggesting for having celery juice is its alkaline-forming effect on the digestive system, plus its capacity to help the body to remove viruses, inflammation, autoimmune, oxidative stress and toxins.

All of these benefits are provided in a multitude of ways by the other alkaline green juice ingredients such as kale, spinach, turmeric, ginger, cucumber, lettuce, cilantro, chard and so on.

There is no logic to restricting your range of benefits to just celery.

But I can see why he did it.

There is a potency in the message to keep it simple, to keep it to JUST celery.

It’s easy to do, easy to remember.

There is also a perceived, counter-intuitive power to having this single-ingredient juice – that nobody has ever mentioned before.

If he had written a book that said “Hey, you should drink a green vegetable juice every day” then the response would have been (sadly) “That’s great, but heard it before”, and we humans have a tendency to discount any information we’ve heard before, even if it is the RIGHT information we need to know.

It’s a bit like the ‘drink more water’ conundrum.

Chronic dehydration is one of the leading causes of degenerative disease, it is SO easily fixed, and it’s effectively FREE – yet because we have heard it so many times, we don’t believe in its power and we don’t change it.

(Please change it by the way – proper hydration is probably more important than celery juice).

So I can see why Anthony has kept his message so simple (and counterintuitive) like this.

And perhaps that’s the genius of his Spirit guide – maybe it’s not that his Spirit has insight into health breakthroughs that science has not yet discovered (you’d need to read one of his books to understand what on Earth I’m going on about here). But maybe his Spirit’s genius is knowing how to communicate in a way that he can create mass change.

(interesting, that thought only came to me just now as I’m typing).

But the bottom line is that I strongly recommend you add some other alkaline, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich foods to your juice – don’t limit it to just celery!.

As I’ve said so many times: acidity, inflammation, and oxidative stress are at the root of EVERY degenerative disease we know of, and the solution is to eat a diet rich in alkaline, antioxidant-rich, and anti-inflammatory foods (what I call “Triple-A Foods”).

You juice should contain leafy greens (these are the most nutrient-dense on Earth), anti-inflammatories like turmeric and ginger and antioxidant-rich foods like carrot, bell pepper and more.

A GREAT example is my Triple-A Juice.

It Goes Beyond Juice…

You should be looking to add celery wherever you can, alongside other alkaline foods (basically all fresh foods). In pasta sauces, curry, soups, salads – it should be included wherever you can!

And here’s a few recipes to get you started:

[+] Celery & Almond Butter Boats (see recipe #1)
[+] Tunisian Chickpea Soup
[+] Alkaline Immune-Boosting Juice
[+] Bright Alkaline Salad
[+] The Hypothyroidism Rebalance Juice

In Summary…

Celery is hugely nutritious. It’s highly-alkaline, so of course….I absolutely love it and recommend it.

BUT, it’s not all about the celery juice. It is a huge shame to ONLY juice celery. You should be looking to get a range of alkaline ingredients into your juices and your life.

Go for it, and let me know in the comments below if you have any questions!

References:

Bokyung S; Role of Apigenin in Cancer Prevention via the Induction of Apoptosis and Autophagy; Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016;21:216-26 (link)

Dong JY; Magnesium intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.; Diabetes Care. 2011 Sep;34(9):2116-22. doi: 10.2337/dc11-0518. (link)

Han L. Effect of digestion on the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of celery leaf and the antioxidant mechanism via Nrf2/HO‐1 signaling pathways against Dexamethasone; Journal of Food Biochemistry; Volume43, Issue7 July 2019 (link)

Kooti W, Daraei N.; A Review of the Antioxidant Activity of Celery ( Apium graveolens L). J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Oct;22(4):1029-1034. (link)

Lin Y, Shi R, Wang X, Shen HM. Luteolin, a flavonoid with potential for cancer prevention and therapy; Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2008 Nov;8(7):634-46. (link)

Ovodovaa RG. et al; Chemical composition and anti-inflammatory activity of pectic polysaccharide isolated from celery stalks; Food Chemistry
Volume 114, Issue 2, 15 May 2009, Pages 610-615 (link)

Powanda MC, Whitehouse MW, Rainsford KD. Celery Seed and Related Extracts with Antiarthritic, Antiulcer, and Antimicrobial Activities. Prog Drug Res. 2015;70:133-53. (link)

Tong X, Smith KA, Pelling JC. Apigenin, a chemopreventive bioflavonoid, induces AMP-activated protein kinase activation in human keratinocytes.; Mol Carcinog. 2012 Mar;51(3):268-79 (link)

Ujiki MB; Apigenin inhibits pancreatic cancer cell proliferation through G2/M cell cycle arrest; Mol Cancer. 2006; 5: 76. (link)

Zheng J; Effects and Mechanisms of Fruit and Vegetable Juices on Cardiovascular Diseases; Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Mar; 18(3): 555. (link)

Zhu F, Du B, Xu B; Anti-inflammatory effects of phytochemicals from fruits, vegetables, and food legumes: A review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2018 May 24;58(8) (link)