Spirulin BOTANY V 03-10/ ,

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Elinor Warner
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Spirulin BOTANY Spirulina spp. Spirulina is a blue green micro-alga. These tiny green spiral coils harvest the energy of the sun, growing a treasure of bioavailable nutrients.

It contains everything life needed to evolve into its rich diversity today. Since time immemorial humans have eaten Spirulina, the Spaniards observed the Aztecs utilizing it for food.

1 Spirulin BOTANY Spirulina spp. Spirulina is a blue green micro-alga. These tiny green spiral coils harvest the energy of the sun, growing a treasure of bioavailable nutrients. This first photosynthetic life form was designed by nature 3.6 billion years ago. Blue green algae produced the oxygen in our atmosphere allowing all higher life forms to evolve. It contains everything life needed to evolve into its rich diversity today. Since time immemorial humans have eaten Spirulina, the Spaniards observed the Aztecs utilizing it for food. Indigenous people around Lake Chad in Africa still eat 'dihe' as they call it. In the West it was first mass-produced in Mexico City where it was growing in a soda works. It was first sold commercially as food in the early 1980s, and since then it has become popular as a health food for "energy" and a dieting aid. Spirulina is today consumed as food in more than seventy-five countries worldwide. It is a nutrientdense cyanobacteria used as a food and source of beneficial phytochemicals. Blue-green algae are a diverse group of microscopic plants rarely used for human food. The exception is Spirulina, which has become widely available as a food ingredient within the last twenty years. It is a nutraceutical food with rather unique phytonutrients and characteristics. Spirulina can be used in a variety of healthy food applications. Wild Spirulina platensis grows in alkaline warm-water. This alga thrives in waters containing high amounts of sodium carbonate. Where wild Spirulina is found there are often flocks of flamingos and other animals feeding on it. Spirulina has a distinctive spiral structure with V 03-10/ ,

filaments of cells being about 10 microns in diameter and up to 1,000 microns in length. It can be grown with brackish water and non-fertile land that cannot be used by other crops.

2 filaments of cells being about 10 microns in diameter and up to 1,000 microns in length. It can be grown with brackish water and non-fertile land that cannot be used by other crops. CHEMISTRY Spirulina has significant amounts of protein, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, chlorophyll, carotenoids including β-carotene, vitamins (α-tocopherol), phenolic acids (chlorogenic and caffeic acids), minerals, unique pigments and polysaccharides. Spirulina is the world s richest natural source of vitamin B 12. It also contains phycobilisomes as protein-pigment complexes; the two more important are phycocyanin and allophycocyanin (Piñero, 2001). Dried Spirulina seaweed contains: Protein 57.5%; total lipid (fat) 7.72%; carbohydrate 23.9%. Spirulina contains whole spectrum of minerals: Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese and Selenium (Information taken from The National Agriculture Library's USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 14 (July 2001)). TRADITIONAL USES Spirulina is a blue-green algae that was gathered by the ancient Aztecs, other native American tribes and members of certain African tribes from alkaline lakes and ponds where it grew in abundance. It was eaten as a nourishing food concentrate. Recent research has proven its high nutritive value and has lent credence to the claim of Spirulina as a high energy super food and possible appetite suppressant. Spirulina has been studied as an animal cell-growth stimulant (Kerby and Rowell, 1992) and in the treatment of residual waters using alginate (Cañizares, et al., 1993; Patnaik, et al., 2001). Phycocyanin shows activity on vegetable cell cultures with production of secondary metabolites as anthocyanin (Ramachandra, et al., 1996). This pigment has the ability to inhibit oxidative damage in DNA and hence it may be used as a therapeutic agent (Bhat, et al., 2001). V 03-10/ ,

COSMETIC PROPERTIES Moisturizing and filmogenic activity Due to the natural composition of Spirulina, it can be used in a lot of cosmetic products.

3 COSMETIC PROPERTIES Moisturizing and filmogenic activity Due to the natural composition of Spirulina, it can be used in a lot of cosmetic products. The main active compounds of Spirulina are mineral salts, carbohydrates and proteins. They are responsible of its conditioner and moisturizing action on skin. It has filmogenic properties on the skin due to its amino acid composition, with hygroscopic properties that maintain skin moisture, besides leaving a pleasant final sensation. Spirulin Extract is suitable for bath and shower products such as preparations for cosmetic bath and shower products, for after-bath and after-shave products and for body milks. Antioxidant activity A study conducted by Piñero in 2001 evaluated the free radical scavenger activity of the protean extract as well as of the fractions obtained in the different purification steps of phycocyanin. An increase in the amount of phycocyanin was related to the increase in the antioxidant activity in the different fractions, and therefore phycobiliprotein phycocyanin was the component mainly responsible for the antioxidant activity of the protean extract of Spirulina (Piñero, 2001). Another study evaluated the antioxidant capacity of a methanolic extract of Spirulina, in vitro and in vivo. The amounts of phenolic acids, α-tocopherol and β-carotene provided antioxidant protection against lipid peroxidation (Miranda, 1998). Therefore, Spirulina extract is recommended for the formulation of cosmetic products with an anti-aging activity. V 03-10/ ,

4 COSMETIC APPLICATIONS Action Active Cosmetic Applications Moisturizing and filmogenic Antioxidant Amino acids Mineral salts Carbohydrates Proteins (Phycocyanin) Phenolic acids Vitamins Moisturizing Soothing Emollient Anti-aging RECOMMENDED DOSE The recommended dose is 2-5 %. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bhat, V.B., and Madyastha, K.M. Scavening of peroxynitrite by phycocyanin and phycocyanobilin from Spirulina platensis: protection against oxidative damage to DNA. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 2001, 285: Cañizares, R.O., et al. Free and immobilized cultures of Spirulina maxima for swine waste treatment. Biotech Letters. 1993, 15: Kerby, N., and Rowell, P. Potential and commercial applications for photosynthetic prokaryotes. In: Mann, N., Carr, N., Eds. Photosynthetic prokaryotes. Plenum Press. 1992, Miranda, M.S. et al. Antioxidant activity of the microalga Spirulina maxima. Brazilian journal of medical and biological research. 1998, 31(8): Patnaik, S., et al. Alginate immobilization of Spirulina platensis for wastewater treatment. Indian J. Exp. Biol. 2001, 39: Piñero Estrada, J.E. et al. Antioxidant activity of different fractions of Spirulina platensis protean extract. Il Farmaco. 2001, 56: Ramachandra, S. et al. Phycocyanin, a new elicitor for capsaicin and anthocyanin accumulation in plan cell cultures. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 1996, 46: V 03-10/ ,

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Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica

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