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NutritionFacts.org Video Podcast

The Benefits and Side Effects of Spirulina

NutritionFacts.org Video Podcast

[email protected]

Health & Fitness, Nutrition, Alternative Health

4.8877 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2024

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Blue-green algae, chlorella, and spirulina are all advertised as being beneficial, but they could be harmful because they are often contaminated with algal toxins.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Spirylene is a microscopic blue-green algae whose carotenoid pigments are responsible for the orange-pink hue of flamingos.

0:15.0

At high enough doses, it can also turn us orange too, like if we eat too many carrots, but it's considered benign

0:22.2

and goes away on its own when you cut back.

0:25.1

The strangest color change I ran across was this, green breast milk following ingestion

0:31.3

of blue-green algae.

0:33.3

Whoa.

0:34.5

But thankfully that also disappears after stopping. Spirillin is said to have various promising

0:40.4

health effects. At the same time, on the contrasting note, there are toxins that might contribute

0:46.8

to acute poisoning, cancer, liver damage, and gastrointestinal disturbances with long-term

0:51.7

consumption potentially leading to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

0:55.0

Okay then.

0:57.0

And those purported prominent health effects, like playing a positive role in treating muscle cramps,

1:03.0

are based on a study in which mice were injected with formaldehyde and vinegar.

1:08.0

What can spiruline actually do in people?

1:11.6

Spiruline can improve long-term blood sugar control in rats, but apparently not in humans.

1:19.6

Also disappointing when it comes to anti-inflammatory or antioxidant effects.

1:24.6

Spirulina may help lower cholesterol, though, perhaps due to reducing fat absorption,

1:29.3

and lower blood pressures by four or five points.

1:33.3

There was a recent trial where mild to moderate Alzheimer's patients were randomized to a gramma

1:38.3

day of spiruline or placebo for 12 weeks and appeared to end up slightly better off cognitively

1:43.3

than those in the control group.

1:45.4

So those are some of the potential upsides.

...

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