For me, spirulina is a powerhouse of densely packed nutrition. If you want to google the benefits, you'll find lots of great stuff. This is a list I've been compiking:

65-70% complete protein (the highest concentration of any known food)
Rich in vitamins A,B1,B2, B6, E, K and iron
Rich source of chlorophyll, salts, and enzymes

It is also rich in the following antioxidants:
Beta-carotene
Zeaxanthin- which is excellent for vision
SOD (super-oxide dismutase)
It is also very high in Phycocyanin- the blue pigment which is known to help stimulate the production of stem cells.

Spirulina can be powerful for the immune system overall because of these high levels of phycocyanin, chlorophyll and also a type of lipo-polysaccharide, one of the many phytonutrients.

It is also a powerful detoxifier because of its high levels of bioavailale sulphur, which is an important nutrient previously found in most plant foods, but because of soil depletion, is now grossly lacking. Sulphur is critical in helping the liver detoxify poisons from the body.

It is among the top few foods rich in GLA and an excellent anti-inflammatory food.

For me, Spirulina is a true superfood, and has been used as such for thousands of years. It was a primary food in parts Africa an a staple food in Mexico. Given the current state of affairs with all of the pollution on this planet, I really believe that we need powerhouses of nutrition in our diets. I can only eat so much, and so I want to occupy the space for food with the richest sources of nutrition available. Why would I want to run on sub-par regular fuel when I can thrive on high energy super octane fuel? That's how I see it, anyway.

Is spirulina cooked?

Prana Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is spirulina cooked?

Hi Prana, I always assumed spirulina was a raw food (dried), but I think that's a very good question. I never really checked.

I called the Spirulina pacifica (the Hawaii company) and also Parry (the certified organic company in India. They have a California office.)

The Hawaii rep said for sure it was a raw food product, and that it's dried below the temperature of many of the other Spirulina brands. But when I asked what that tempurature was, she didn't know. She said the person who knew was in a meeting, and she'd call me back.

The Parry company was pretty impressive. The person I was referred to was a food scientist. He was unavailable though, so another person on the staff said they would have someone get back to me.

So, I'm waiting and will let you know as soon as someone contacts me.

Prana, it's raw. However, even when exposed to higher temps when it dries out on rocks in a natural environment, it is so hardy that it retains nearly all of its nutrients.

Here's another reason I love it...
Algae, such as spirulina, has been around since the beginning of life on earth and is the basis and beginning of the food chain. Through photosynthesis, it converts sunlight into pure protein, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and nearly every nutrient essential for life.

You just have to check the source to make sure the quality is good.

Spirulina is a good food in low quantities when consuming it in the long term. One of the biggest drawbacks of spirulina (scientically backed) is that the calcium to phosphorous ratio is 1: 2,000 (even meat with it's bad balance is 1 - 200, but that's far off the 1 - 2,000 of spirulina) and it's packed with tannic acid, so having too much will cause massive calcium withdrawl from the body and will cause other nutritent absorption problems. We must be careful what all these books are saying because not all the information is scientifically correct, some of it is fabricated as marketing information and even past spirulina reasearchers such as Dr Hills haven't had the best reputation for 100% honesty.

l still talk up spirulina actively, but we must recognise it's benefits and problems so we can use it correctly.

spirulina gives me really good energy, but unforunately taking it regularly also constipation and gas (I am fine now I stopped it) .Anyone know the reason for this or a way to counteract it?

I found another good organic source if anyone's interested, and so I'm giving this one a try. "Health Force" advertises that their standards are "beyond organic." I haven't contacted the company, but according to the label, it seems like a trustworthy product. I've gotten other things from them, and really liked them. I believe the owner of the company, Dr. Sheridan, is a committed vegan. I've listened to interviews with the guy, and his integrity comes across clearly, as well as his dedication to health.

Marsh,

As the company what it's quality assurance plan is. Also, what it's sampling and testing protocols are. How often, how many? With this particular "food", you want to be sure you are getting what you are paying for. It seems to me that this may be one of those foods, if the price is acceptable, where it can do either really good things or really bad things depending on the quality of the product. Just my impression.

Paul

Marsh, I agree with Paul.

I'm a little uncertain about the term, "beyond organic". It's probably just my suspicious mind, but is the product actually certified organic? I searched google and couldn't find a certified organic spirulina product from Health Force.

Could you maybe give us a link, or the exact name of the product?

If can, thanks in advance.

This reminded me that I never got any calls back about the drying temperature.

I called Spirulina pacifica again, and the rep said she was told that the drying temperature was "around 120 degrees". That's above the standard 118 degree limit, which I think is too high for me personally; but others might find it OK. Something to consider: Spriulina pacifica said they dry their spirulina at a lower temperature than most other companies.

I'm still working on finding someone from Parry who can tell me about their temperature.

Good question Prana. Thanks!

I guess I might be kind of picky, but it makes me wonder about some of these other dried powdered products.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2011 07:50PM by suncloud.

Hi Paul and Suncloud,

You can go to healthforce.com and check it out. I love Dr. Sheridan. I've heard him speak before, he's the real deal and I trust him and his stuff. I just found this spiriulina the other day, and was so excited to see that it was one of his products, especially after all the recent comments here. The quality is definitely there, I can taste the difference.

I don't mind if he's not "certified" organic. I live in California where we have so many organic growers of tons of different things, and I know a little about the whole certified organic set up. I also have a family member with an organic fruit farm, whose practices are pristine, but because of the the difficulty, expense and red tape of sustaining "certified organic" status, she chose to bow out of that system and forego the title. Her fruit is the best, it is organic, and I know other farmers who are in the same boat.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have regulation in this area, but I am saying that I know first hand that the current system makes it nearly impossible for some small businesses to survive.

All I can say is "don't". The risk of Lou Gehrig's disease, neurotoxicity, muscle and liver toxicity, liver cancer. Don't do it. What is his quality assurance? How does he know his product isn't cross contaminated with the other cyanobacteria that Suncloud discovered in her research?

Marsh,

It may be fine. But don't take the risk until you look into it. And it isn't verifying it's organic. It's verifying it is uncontaminated... pure spirulina,... nothing but! All I read on that website is that it is grown in the USA... um 'scuse me. Klamath Lake is in the USA... is that where this stuff is from? Quality assurance. Quality control names of labs doing the QA, QA plan. If in doubt, don't!.

paul

Hi Paul and Marsh,

I think Paul has some very good points. The Healthforce company looks very good though. They say: "HealthForce Nutritionals is a 20-plus year 100% hardcore vegan therapeutic superfoods company."

100% hardcore vegan. I love it! (no colostrum, no deer antlers, no honey, etc.) Nice to know there's a company out there that really is hardcore vegan!

Dr. Sheridan claims to be a Doctor of Holistic Medicine, a Naturopath, a vegan for 25 years, and a raw food vegan for 24 years. Plus, he's in very good shape himself, and has a nice happy smile.

[www.healthforce.com]

So I called Healthforce and asked about their spirulina.

The good news! Their spirulina is dried at 105 degrees! So it's raw. They have a few spirulina products. Every batch is tested for everything, including cyanobacteria, heavy metals, mold, lysteria, and lots of other stuff, and it's tested by 3 different certified labs.

The "Truganic" products, including their "Truganic" Spirulina Azteca, go through extra rigorous testing - for GMO's, irradiation, chemicals, etc.

The not-so-good news: Their Spirulina Azteca is currently not available because sometimes shipments are delayed due to customs. This spirulina comes from Chile, so I'm going to assume that it's farmed using the mined chilean nitrate. One rep I spoke to told me their spirulina products were certified organic. Another rep I spoke to told me their spirulina products were not certified organic because of some ingredient used in their spirulina culture. The rep didn't know what the ingredient was, but I'm going to assume it's the chilean nitrate, because everything the rep said just seemed to fit that assumption. (But it is an assumption.)

My understanding is that the Chilean nitrate is an environmental risk (nitrate possibly leaking into groundwater), rather than a chemical contaminant of the product. Some people might find that to be reason enough to avoid it. Some people might not.

Here's the product:

[www.healthforce.com]

Still though, Healthforce looks like a good company. If I were buying superfood powders, I would consider some of their products. And someday I might. Thank you marsh for turning us on to this company!

Haven't heard yet from Parry about their drying temperature.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2011 10:18PM by suncloud.

Mine is the Spirulina Manna. Thanks for the info suncloud. I knew his stuff had to be good.

One thing still to consider Marsh, is that we are only taking other people's word for it.

As I mentioned above, one of the reps said it was certified organic, but that turns out not to be true. Interestingly, the rep even gave me a somewhat detailed (false) explanation as to why their spirulina didn't carry a certified organic seal. Maybe the rep was just not well informed about this particular product, and/or maybe he was new. And of course, that doesn't mean the whole company is bad. My personal impression is that it's a very good company, but that's due to their vegan commitment.

Another kind of strange thing was that I was told (by a different rep) that they weren't allowed to give out the names of the labs, which seems kind of strange.

With certified organic, there is something verifiable to check, from someone independent of the company.

And the environmental concerns for the Chilean nitrate are real, which is why the nitrate is no longer an allowable substance for organic. Some of the problems associated with the nitrate are listed here, starting with a report to the National Organic Standards Board (from several years ago):

[spirulina.org.uk]

[www1.american.edu]

[en.wikipedia.org]

I don't mean to guilt-trip anyone or cause needless fears, but for this particular product (spirulina), I would personally choose the certified organic over any other (if it's raw); and so far, that's just Parry.

Given all the concerns, is chlorella not a possible alternative?

I like chlorella, too, and I alternate between them. They do different things. Like I said in an earlier post, for the amount of spirulina that I take, I'm not really all that concerned. For me, the health benefits outweigh all of these "maybe's." Personally, I really like Jameth Sheridan, and I just trust his products and feel good supporting his company. I was glad to see he has a spirulina product. And I still may check out Parry's someday. Thanks for all of your researching and calling around, suncloud. I appreciated all of the info you dug up.

Suncloud,

Thank you for researching this issue so that we did not throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak. So, based on your understanding, the toxins that Dr. Greger is concerned with are not intrinsic to the Spirulina itself but rather cross-contamination with cyano-bacteria that live in the same environment as Spirulina. Is that right? Question, does certifying Spirulina organic assure that it is not cross contaminated with something natural and may co-inhabit the same area?

Please note, I'm not trying to be flip or argumentative. It just concerns me that if the risk is related to something that grows naturally in the same environment, unless there was a way to validate that it is not in the Spirulina or a way to remove it from the Spirulina, how do we know that the Spirulina is relatively safe.

Paul

Thanks marsh!

Hi Paul, don't worry. I know you're not trying to be argumentative or anything.

I potentially miss stuff and assume stuff anyway, so I appreciate when people correct anything I say or want to delve deeper into the facts. That's what's good about this website, IMO. And also, that's what's good about some of the longstanding friendships here!

To answer your questions as best I can:

Q: "...the toxins that Dr. Greger is concerned with are not intrinsic to the Spirulina itself but rather cross-contamination with cyano-bacteria that live in the same environment as Spirulina. Is that right?"

That appears to me to be the case from what I've read so far, and it appears to be the conclusion according to the "Safety Evaluation" that I cited in the other spirulina thread. Too bad it's on PDF, and I can't link it. Paul, I think you have my email address. If you'd like to view the whole article (which I think is pretty good), maybe send me an email, and I can send it back to you as an attachment. Or, send me a PM and I'll send you my email address. The Safety Evaluation includes 2 of the 3 Dr. Greger articles in their references.

Q: ...does certifying Spirulina organic assure that it is not cross contaminated with something natural and may co-inhabit the same area?

I'm not entirely certain. I do know that with certified organic, the consumer is entitled to view the complete record for growing/handling of any certified organic product. If the producer doesn't supply the record, it can be obtained by contacting the certifier. Since certification is highly dependent upon food safety issues, I'm assuming that all the lab records would be available to the consumer as part of that package, but I've never dealt specifically with that issue before.

I did call Hawaii Organic Farmers Association, but haven't heard back yet. It's an interesting question. I do think consumers should be able to see lab records, and I'm surprised Healthforce has a policy against their customers even knowing which labs they use. Can you think of any reason for that? I can't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2011 11:53PM by suncloud.