Spirulina Facts!

This kind of stuff bothers me.

Spirulina is wonderful yes, in it's fresh and natural form - which is to say, not powdered or in pills.
Dried, powdered spirulina (and any other super seaweed concentrate/chlorophyll) contains about 15% of the original levels of nutrients, and they are far less effectively absorbed.

(We did a chemical analysis of fresh vs. dried spirulina as part of a research project last year, but you can find plenty of published studies on the topic.)

If you ate a large amount of fresh spirulina every day then if would be a good source of iron and many other things, but it would also make you sick because blue-greens are toxic to humans in large amounts.

Spirulina is not so different from every other blue-green algae, there are many species that are very similar, spirulina is just the one health food companies latched on to most recently to market as a new wonder food.

No one food or supplement can be so beneficial as to completely change your health. As usual, a varied diet works best, and seaweed in general is an excellent addition.

I've been taking spirulina for years and I've found it's changed my health dramatically.
I don't take ones like chlorella for a variety of reasons (with chlorella it's mostly because of the degeneration of its nutrients once its plant wall is broken) but I've found spirulina to be different.
I say don't dog it until you've tried it.

I'm not saying it's bad for you, I'm saying it's not all it claims to be. A good powdered form of the stuff, or small amounts of the fresh stuff (which you can't eat anyway) might be as beneficial as any other supplement, particularly if you're lacking in something it's high in, but vegans rarely have a deficiency in 'phytonutrients' (which is a bs term anyway, see below.)

In fact, if it really did have the levels of nutrients listed in that table, you'd notice a lot of side effects eating it daily, mega doses of anything make you sick - that much iron would make you constipated, that much beta carotene would make you jaundiced and destroy your liver, that much calcium would give you white spots on your nails and teeth....

Antioxidants aren't as important as everyone thinks, it isn't as simple as 'the more the better' and having anti-inflammatory properties isn't beneficial just generally, and if the effects were too strong your immuno responses would be negatively affected.

'phytonutirents' is just a word, a marketing ploy, all it means is 'nutrients found in plants.' Meaning every chemical compound found in plants, which may or may not be beneficial or damaging.  
They can say it's rich in them because a) all plants are, and b) blue-greens have very densely packed chloroplasts, which means they produce more 'nutrients' during photosynthesis than many other plants.


I'm fine with people advising the health benefits of specific foods, but I hate it when one food is pushed as a miracle super food. you can't ignore a varied balanced diet (and proper supplementation for vegans or deficiencies - i.e. iron/ B12) and rely on a superfood instead. And you're just fueling the huge scam that is health food companies' fad claims.

I don't know where you heard that, but it's simply not true.
It does contain small amounts of almost all the essential nutrients for humans, and it is a complete protein (but it doesn't come close to meat or eggs in that regard), but trace amounts of some, and large amounts of others. It couldn't be the staple source of a human diet, just like no other food could be.

And as I said before, blue green algaes are toxic to humans unadulterated - which they need to be to maintain those levels of nutrients.

One should also note that for algae to reach those impressive levels of nutrients they need to have an unlimited supply of it's own nutrients, which is difficult to maintain in a bloom.

Would you still say it would still be beneficial to your health to take some good quality powdered spirulina daily ? Is it worth it at $90 per kg

It's not a bad multi vitamin, it's still a good source of protein, amino acids and non haeme iron, take it with vitamin c.... I don't know if $90 per kilo is good value, I think the majority of supplements and multivitamins are a waste of money, but supplementing properly can work wonders

I would advise that you talk to a doctor, or better a nutritionist/dietician about whether it'd be beneficial for you or not.

You said.. (We did a chemical analysis of fresh vs. dried spirulina as part of a research project last year, but you can find plenty of published studies on the topic).  Can you please direct me to your research or any research that can substantiate the fact that fresh spirulina with possibly 90% water is more potent than dry that is  100% pure nutrients.  I would really appreciate.

This sounds good if you've been put on a restrictive diet, like when people just drink shakes. But if I like big meals that already have these vitamins and minerals, wouldn't taking such a potent supplement cause me to "overdose" on some things?