Spirulina, commonly dubbed as the superfood for the future has turned the collective heads of health conscious consumers. Why is it dubbed as a superfood for the future? As things stand, there are pockets of the world that are being plagued with Hunger issues, and our world’s farmers are failing to meet ends. The gap between production and consumption is a wide gap that just keeps on increasing, and we are nowhere close to bridging this gap. Spirulina, in essence, cultivated from Algae, is an alternative source of protein, a gift that just keeps on giving.
Spirulina is 100% Vegan and provides a fitting solution to Vegans and Vegetarians who want to indulge themselves with a nutritional supplement. Additionally, Spirulina also provides a sustainable solution. How? Spirulina falls under aquaculture and does not rival traditional agriculture. Spirulina can be cultivated in most kind of water sources, making it an environmentally viable alternative unlike its other competitors. Hence, Spirulina is rightly dubbed as a superfood for the future.
Now, let’s go on and break down what kind of nutrition Spirulina is rich in.
Broadly, Spirulina is rich in numerous other vitamins and minerals including:
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
Copper
Iron
Calcium
Magnesium
Potassium
Phosphorus
Manganese
Right from the get-go, all of us have been advised and educated about the importance of a balanced diet. Now, contrary to popular belief, as we get on with our lives, time dictates that an average human does not really measure his diet nutritionally, and is unsure of exactly what nutrition is prominent or lacking in his diet. Hence a supplement like Spirulina, which is laden with minerals, vitamins, and nutrition compliments your diet, and is destined to give you more energy.
From a qualitative point of view, spirulina proteins are complete, since all the essential
amino acids are present, forming 47% of total protein weight. This shows that the biological value of proteins in spirulina is very high, and that an optimum product could be achieved by supplementation with a good
source of Sulphur-containing amino acids and possibly also lysine and/or histidine. For example
cereals such as rice, wheat and millet, or certain oilseeds such as sesame should be excellent
supplements.
Now how much of this protein is actually synthesized and utilized by the body?
The utilization or absorption of the protein that is being ingested is determined by digestibility. In essence, the proportion of protein absorbed, and by the amino acid composition. This value is calculated experimentally by calculating the percentage of nitrogen retained.
While compared to its competitors and protein sources, spirulina cells do not have cellulose walls, but a relatively fragile envelope of murein . This explains the very high digestibility of its proteins (83-90% in ordinary dried spirulina, as against 95.1% for pure casein)
Source: The nutritional aspects of Spirulina – J Falquet, JP Hurni – Antenna Foundation