2 replies to this topic

[happy]

My girlfriend just ordered Chlorella & Spirulina from iHerb after reading about it from various natural news websites and word of mouth, and she and I both want to know if the cost is worth the "benefits" claimed.

I've done a forum search and convinced her of not ordering Green powders, but she's adamant about the benefits of Chlorella and Spirulina. I wanted her to spend the money invested in the two products elsewhere, such as LEF's Blueberry|Cacao supplement.

Any thoughts, tips, or advice is appreciated :]

P.S She's 18, petite, and cute.

Edited by happy, 03 April 2008 - 08:24 PM.

[mitkat]

Algae has been consumed as a foodstuff in various civilisations and as long as it's a quality source, it is a welcome addition to most regimens and diets IMHO. There are many good sources of chlorella (Jarrow's Yaeyama is one of the tops) and spirulina...I dropped spirulina as I felt I was getting enough greens and the iron was a bit much for me - although as a female, the iron is probably welcome.

What are her goals? Large doses of chlorella are often used in detoxification programs, spirulina AFAIK doesn't have any novel action. What is her current regimen like, if any? I agree other things could be considered first, a quality multi, omega3 source, vit c, antioxidants like you mentioned... but these are pretty healthful supps and I've got nothing really negative to say about 'em. There were some big plans for chlorella in the 1950's as a major foodstuff...for those who may not think much of this supp, have a quick read - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorella

P.S She's 18, petite, and cute.

My girlfriend just ordered Chlorella & Spirulina from iHerb after reading about it from various natural news websites and word of mouth, and she and I both want to know if the cost is worth the "benefits" claimed.

I've done a forum search and convinced her of not ordering Green powders, but she's adamant about the benefits of Chlorella and Spirulina. I wanted her to spend the money invested in the two products elsewhere, such as LEF's Blueberry|Cacao supplement.

Any thoughts, tips, advice is appreciated :]

P.S She's 18, petite, and cute.

[krillin]

Spirulina has B12 analogs that can use up valuable intrinsic factor capacity. They might even inhibit B12-dependent enzymes like the analogs made from the reaction between B12, C, and copper.

J Agric Food Chem. 1999 Nov;47(11):4736-41.
Pseudovitamin B(12) is the predominant cobamide of an algal health food, spirulina tablets.
Watanabe F, Katsura H, Takenaka S, Fujita T, Abe K, Tamura Y, Nakatsuka T, Nakano Y.
Department of Health Science, Kochi Women's University, Kochi 780-8515, Japan. watanabe@cc.kochi-wu.ac.jp

The vitamin B(12) concentration of an algal health food, spirulina (Spirulina sp.) tablets, was determined by both Lactobacillus leichmannii ATCC 7830 microbiological and intrinsic factor chemiluminescence methods. The values determined with the microbiological method were approximately 6-9-fold greater in the spirulina tablets than the values determined with the chemiluminescence method. Although most of the vitamin B(12) determined with the microbiological method was derived from various vitamin B(12) substitutive compounds and/or inactive vitamin B(12) analogues, the spirulina contained a small amount of vitamin B(12) active in the binding of the intrinsic factor. Two intrinsic factor active vitamin B(12) analogues (major and minor) were purified from the spirulina tablets and partially characterized. The major (83%) and minor (17%) analogues were identified as pseudovitamin B(12) and vitamin B(12), respectively, as judged from data of TLC, reversed-phase HPLC, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and biological activity using L. leichmannii as a test organism and the binding of vitamin B(12) to the intrinsic factor.

PMID: 10552882