Spirulina is a blue-green algae found in warm, fresh-water areas. It has been called the “food of the future” due to the fact it contains all essential amino acids, several vitamins and minerals, and can grow in harsh conditions, yielding 200 times more protein per acre than beef. It also has shown promise for treating a variety of human health conditions in laboratory and clinical studies.
Antimicrobial
A Russian study in 2001 and another in India, published in “Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology” in 2005, tested spirulina in vitro--meaning in a lab, not in human subjects--against several viruses, bacteria and fungi. The researchers found that spirulina extracts were effective against HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza and Candida, among others, and also helped encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut such as lactic acid bacilli and bifidobacteria.
Antioxidant
Spirulina has also shown potent antioxidant effects in studies on laboratory animals. The April 2003 issue of “Phytotherapy Research” detailed how the administration of spirulina to animals exposed to lead had a significant effect on scavenging free radicals, which protected organs and particularly the brain from damage caused by the lead. Two later studies in India in 2006 showed that spirulina protected rats from kidney disease via its antioxidant properties.
Blood Clots
One of the proteins isolated from spirulina, C-phycocyanin, was found to inhibit platelet aggregation by scientists in Taiwan. According to the study, published in the “Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry” in 2005, these results strongly indicate that spirulina appears to present a novel and potential antiplatelet--or anti-clotting--agent for treating blot clots in arteries.
Cholesterol
“Lipids Health Digest” reported on a study performed on human subjects who were given 4.5 g of spirulina every day for six weeks. The volunteers didn’t otherwise modify their dietary habits or lifestyle during the study period. After the six weeks, the subjects showed a marked decrease in blood lipid levels, triglycerides and unhealthy LDL cholesterol.
Diabetes
It was reported in “Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology” in 2005 that spirulina was able to regulate the metabolism of lipid fats and carbohydrate by moderating glucose activity in laboratory animals and in diabetic human patients.
Liver Health
Another study in Taiwan, published in 2005 in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry," investigated how spirulina might affect liver fibrosis, a chronic liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis if left untreated. The researchers used human liver cancer cells in vitro and discovered that spirulina was able to inhibit the proliferation of the cells, which is one of the primary objectives when successfully treating fibrosis.
Nervous System
Spirulina was one of three “super antioxidant” foods, including blueberries and spinach, tested in 2005 at the National Institute on Drug Abuse for their effects on neurodegenerative changes in the brain in aged animals. All three substances showed a significant reduction in programmed cell death and brain tissue death in laboratory animals.
References
- "Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology": Nutritional and Therapeutic Potential of Spirulina
- "Zhurnal Mikrobiologii": Biological Activity of Spirulina
- "Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology": Effect of Spirulina on Oxidative Stress
- "Phytotherapy Research": Protective effect of Spirulina on Lipid Peroxidation and Endogenous Antioxidants
- "Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology": Protection Against Nephrotoxicity by Spirulina
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