Spirulina - Nature's Nearly 'Perfect' Whole Food
Spirulina contains up to 70 percent protein by weight and with all of the essential amino acids, the quality of spirulina's protein rivals that of the best protein sources.
This even includes milk, eggs, and beef.
However, one must consider the dosing since spirulina is typically used in much smaller levels than these proteins. It typically is considered a supplement and not a protein replacement.
What's more, spirulina is one of the highest, most digestible sources of "complete" protein. A complete protein contains all essential amino acids.
Spirulina contains other important phytonutrients, too:
- Carotenoids
- Essential fatty acids, including hard-to-find gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) for your heart and joint health
- Minerals such as iron, magnesium, calcium, selenium, and zinc
- Sulpholipids and the antioxidant enzyme Superoxide dismutase (SOD) all of which are in a bio-available form
The spirulina used for this product is sourced from Oonaiyur, a town twenty miles away from the historic town of Pudukottai in South India. It is a quiet, pristine stretch of land far away from any polluting industrial or agricultural activity.
Free from ground water contamination, and far away from pesticide, herbicide and synthetic fertiliser use, Dr. Mercola's spirulina micro-algae is grown across this vast hundred and thirty acres of land.
Warning: Spirulina and Nutrient-Rich Sea Vegetables Aren't Always Good for Your Health
As healthy as spirulina, kelp, and other sea vegetables may be, here's a word of caution if you do include them in your diet now.
Just as eating some fish can negatively impact your health because of heavy metal and chemical contamination, most sea vegetables and many natural sources of spirulina are now contaminated as well.
Plus, many sea vegetables have been found to contain bromine instead of iodine.
And since the Fukushima nuclear incident, Dr.Mercola recommends that you avoid any sea vegetables, including spirulina and kelp, from Japan and nearby waters harvested after March 1, 2011 as they may be contaminated with radiation.
If you can be certain the sea vegetables you choose to eat are toxin- and radiation-free,then this could be the ideal way to obtain the important whole food nutrients you need.
However, if you're like most Americans and other Westerners, sea vegetables are not likely to fill your plate on a daily basis anytime soon.
For that reason, it is recommended that you include a supplemental source of spirulina in your diet every day for that added measure of nutrition.
But be careful, freshwater algae like spirulina could contain high levels of mycrocyctins, which can be dangerous to your liver. Microcystins have the potential to be produced in large quantities during algae blooms. That’s why it is so important that spirulina is grown in a clean, controlled environment.
The Best Source of Spirulina?
This organic spirulina comes to us from a leading manufacturer of high-quality plant-based nutritional products and ingredients.
The manufacturer has been producing spirulina for over 30 years and have conducted more than 25 in vitro and in vivo studies on their product on both humans and animals.
Dr.Mercola's Chief Research Scientist has visited the ponds where the spirulina is grown, located twenty miles away from the historic town of Pudukottai in South India. The place is called Oonaiyur, a quiet, pristine stretch of land far away from any polluting industrial or agricultural activity.
Free from ground water contamination, and far away from pesticide, herbicide, and synthetic fertiliser use, our spirulina micro-algae is grown across this vast hundred and thirty acres of land.
The ponds where the spirulina is grown are incredibly clean and well-maintained, as is the processing and extraction equipment used. The facility is organic certified by European 3rd party assessors, which comply with the USDA National Organic Program Standards.
This unwavering commitment to maintaining a pristine environment ensures this organic spirulina is:
- Low in heavy metals, yeast, and mould
- Grown without Chilean nitrate, manure, or synthetic minerals
- No genetically engineered ingredients and non-irradiated
- Free from herbicides, pesticides, and ground water contamination
- Gluten-free and produced without chemicals
- Grown with only natural herbal fertilisers and pure, artesian groundwater
As a further plus, the manufacturing practices and usage of pure vegetarian organic nutrients help minimise contamination from toxic heavy metals. Each batch of spirulina is tested to ensure consistent quality and nearly undetectable heavy metal content.
The manufacturer also takes care to ensure that the conditions in the pools are not suitable for mycrocystins. You can rest assured that these dangerous toxins are never present in this product.
Along with using an allergy-free, organic facility for manufacturing this product, there's science and superior world-class manufacturing practices behind it, too.
When the '#1 Superfood' Meets the 'King of the Antioxidants'…
Spiru-Blue Emerges
As near-perfect as spirulina may be, it does lack one key carotenoid.
That missing carotenoid is astaxanthin.
In fact, it's considered the "King" of the carotenoid antioxidants by many who have studied it.
So, it only stands to reason, why not make a near-perfect food even more perfect by adding the "king of the antioxidants"?*
To make this remarkable combination product called Spiru-Blue, the manufacturer combines certified organic spirulina with a very special form of astaxanthin.
Just in case you're not familiar with astaxanthin, we will give you a quick review of its amazing benefits.
Simply, astaxanthin is what puts the rosy glow in flamingos and the scarlet colouring in lobsters, shrimp, and krill.
Born white, these animals and crustaceans gain their brilliant colour after feeding on micro-algae, the source of the red pigment astaxanthin.
Neither animals nor humans can produce their own astaxanthin, so the only way to get it is to eat something in the food chain of the micro-algae itself.
How Astaxanthin Supports Your Health
Truly the "King" of the carotenoids, astaxanthin's ability to scavenge free radicals in your body is up to:
- 550 times more powerful than vitamin E
- 65 times more powerful than vitamin C
- 54 times more powerful than beta-carotene
- 5 times more powerful than lutein
It does this by quenching a molecule called singlet oxygen - a harmful reactive oxygen species formed through normal biological processes occurring in your body. Singlet oxygen possesses a high amount of excess energy that must be released to keep it from damaging other cells.
Astaxanthin absorbs this energy and dissipates it as heat, thereby returning the singlet oxygen to a grounded state.
There's another way, too, that astaxanthin helps to protect cells, organs and tissues against oxidative damage from free radicals.
It traps free radicals at both ends of the molecule. Once captured, the potentially harmful free radicals pass into cellular fluids where they become neutralised by vitamin C. In this way, astaxanthin is sometimes considered a 'booster' for other antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E.
What's more, astaxanthin can't act as a potentially detrimental "pro-oxidant" like some of the other carotenoids such as beta-carotene, lycopene, and zeaxanthin.
- Support your joint health, flexibility, and mobility
- Contributes to the normal function of the immune system
- Support your central nervous system
- Support your cardiovascular system
- Support your brain and eye health due to its unique ability to cross blood-brain and blood-retina barriers
Especially because we face so many stressors in our everyday lives, Dr. Mercola now believes astaxanthin has an important role in everyone's daily regimen.
Spiru-Blue - BLUE on the Outside and Green on the Inside…
With a Pleasing Vanilla Taste and Smell, Too!
Many people shy away from spirulina and other algae foods because of their strong, often undesirable taste and odour.
With Spiru-Blue, this has been taken care of.
Not only has the taste and smell dilemma been solved, the phycocyanin content of each dose has been boosted.
Here's what you'll find in each Spiru-Blue tablet:
- A blue phycocyanin outer coating from organic spirulina, giving you an added boost to support brain and heart health, help protect against oxidative stress
- Green on the inside from organic spirulina
- And best of all… a pleasing natural vanilla flavour and scent
Sixteen percent of each cold-compressed tablet is natural phycocyanin without the use of artificial colours or titanium dioxide. And there are no fillers.
And just to show you how unique Spiru-Blue is… there is NO other product in existence with this special phycocyanin coating.
