The aim of this study is to screen the Cyanobacterium Spirulina for cholesterol degradation. The Spirulina culture were collected and identified based on morphological appearance. In vitro study of cholesterol degradation by Spirulina was carried out by the cultivation of Spirulina in the medium containing 0.5% of two different concentrations of blood serum cholesterol (Hypocholesterol-142 mg/d...

OBJECTIVE Spirulina maxima consumption is known to be associated with enhanced cardiovascular and metabolic health. Human studies on this topic have recently been described in a few papers; however, potential protective cardiovascular properties of Spirulina in obese patients receiving standard pharmacological antihypertensive treatment remain to be elucidated. Putative beneficial cardiovascula...

Spirulina is a microscopic and filamentous cyanobacterium that contains essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidative components. The purpose of this study was to examine effects of spirulina intervention in Korean patients with type 2 diabetes. The subjects were 37 type 2 diabetic patients who visited a diabetic clinic in Seoul and randomly assigned into s...

Spirulina represents a blue-green alga that is widely produced and commercialized as a dietary supplement for modulating immune functions, as well as ameliorating a variety of diseases. We have previously shown that the in vitro culture of Spirulina with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) modulated the production of cytokines. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of a Spi...

The highly nutritional and ecofriendly Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) has hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, and antihypertensive properties. Spirulina contains functional compounds, such as phenolics, phycocyanins, and polysaccharides, with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunostimulating effects. Studies conducted on Spirulina suggest that it is safe in healthy subjects, but attitude to eat...

This study compares the quality of extrudates made from corn grits with the addition of up to 8% of spirulina powder. The sensory properties (shape, color, aroma, taste and crispness), chemicals (content of water, protein, fat, ash, fiber, carbohydrates, carotenoids, chlorophyll and phycocyanin) and physical properties (color, water absorption index, expansion indices, texture and water sorptio...

Spirulina is free-floating filamentous microalgae growing in alkaline water bodies. With its high nutritional value, Spirulina has been consumed as food for centuries in Central Africa. It is now widely used as nutraceutical food supplement worldwide. Recently, great attention and extensive studies have been devoted to evaluate its therapeutic benefits on an array of diseased conditions includi...

The effect of Spirulina on iron status was assessed based on hemoglobin, packed cell volume, serum iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin levels of rats during pregnancy and lactation. Rats were fed 5 different kinds of diets (casein, Spirulina, wheat gluten, Spirulina + wheat gluten, Spirulina without additional vitamins and minerals) each providing 22 percent protein. Diets containing...

Recent research reveals that free bilirubin functions physiologically as a potent inhibitor of NADPH oxidase activity. The chromophore phycocyanobilin (PCB), found in blue-green algae and cyanobacteria such as Spirulina, also has been found to be a potent inhibitor of this enzyme complex, likely because in mammalian cells it is rapidly reduced to phycocyanorubin, a close homolog of bilirubin. I...

BACKGROUND Millions of people in Bangladesh, India, Taiwan, and Chile are consuming high concentration of arsenic through drinking water, and thousands of them have already developed chronic arsenic poisoning. There is no specific treatment. Some authors suggest the use of vitamins and minerals for more than 6 months. The present placebo-controlled double-blind study was conducted to evaluate e...