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Dietetic and Pharmaceutical Raw Materials
SPIRULINA
A summary
Spirulina spp. are cyanobacteria
which occur widely in moist environments. Massive quantities grow in the
alcaline waters of certain tropical lakes (Lake
Tchad, East African Rift lakes, Lake Texcoco
in Mexico).
Large quantities are also cultivated in artificial ponds in regions with a high
average temperature and a high insolation (China,
India, Thailand, California).
The species used in mass cultivation is exclusively Spirulina platensis.
Spirulina is a multicellular organism, it consists of helically shaped
filaments of up to 300 micron length. Spirulina is harvested by sieves and
usually spraydried to a dark green powder. Spirulina has an old - albeit exotic
- tradition as food. The Aztecs harvested it from the brackish lake which
surrounded their capital Tenochtitlan
(DIAZ DE CASTILLO). The ready availability of this food may have been the basis
of the political power of the Aztecs (FARRAR, W.V., 1966). On the shores of lake Tchad
Spirulina is collected in depressions, dried and used as food (DANGEARD, 1940).
Since 1980 Spirulina has become an very successful food supplement. This may be
due to various reasons. An appetite depressing effect claimed for Spirulina in
sales promotion texts could only partly be confirmed by a clinical study
(BECKER, 1986). The intake of Spirulina was found to be cholesterol lowering by
NAKAYA (1988). This was confirmed by DE RIVERA (1993) who also found a
preventive effect of Spirulina on the induced fatty liver. Iron from Spirulina
is readily bioavailable (JOHNSON, 1986). An immunostimulatory effect of
intracellular polysaccharide fractions of Spirulina was found by PULZ (1993).
HAYASHI (1993) observed that an aqueous extract of Spirulina platensis affected
viral penetration of HeLa cells in a dose-dependent manner. The extract
inhibited virus specific protein synthesis without suppressing host cell
protein synthesis.
References
DIAZ DE CASTILLO, BERNAL:
Historia verdadera de la conquista de la nueva Espagna, written before 1580,
published in the 17th century, edition consulted here: Coleccion Austral, 7th.
ed. p. 191 and 377 FARRAR, W.V. 1966: Tecuitlatl: A glimpse of Aztec food
technology Nature, July 23, 1966, p. 341
DANGEARD, P., 1940: Sur une
algue bleue alimentaire pour l'homme: Arthrospira platensis (Nordst.) Gomont. Actes
Soc. Linn. Boreaux Extr. Procés-verbaux. 91:39-41
BECKER, E.W. et al., 1986:
Clinical and biochemical evaluations of the alga Spirulina with regard to its
application in the treatment of obesity. Nutr. Reports International, April
1986 vol. 33 No. 4, p. 565-574 HAYASHI, K. et al., 1993: An Extract from
Spirulina platensis is a Selective Inhibitor of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
Penetration into HeLa Cells. Phytotherapy Research, vol. 7, 76-80(1993)
JOHNSON, PH. E. et al.,
1986: Availability of Iron to Rats from Spirulina Nutrition Research, vol. 6,
pp. 85-94
NAKAYA, N., 1988:
Cholesterol lowering effect of Spirulina. Nutrition Reports Interantional, June
1988 vol. 37, no. 6, p. 1329-1337 DE RIVERA, C.G., 1993: Preventive Effect of
Spirulina maxima on the fatty liver induced by a fructose rich diet. Life
Sciences Journal, vol. 53(1) 57-61
PULZ, O. et al., 1993:
Microalgae as a source of pharmacologically valuable polysaccharides. 6th
European Congress on Biotechnology, Firenze, Italy, June 13-17, 1993
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