Stickers for bags
Spirulina, from pieces of information gathered on several websites
The name of spirulina or blue-green algae, is generic of a large number of filamentous cyanobacteria from two types:
The Arthrospira that are edible and used as food supplements
The genus Spirulina, inedible.
Nevertheless, the name Spirulina is generally used for the edible products derived from the type Arthospira or Spirulina platensis.
Spirulina is an algae, present on Earth, for more than three billion years. It is one of the family of cyanobacteria, the bacteria to the origins of life on Earth, or blue-green microalgae. It is in the form of filaments coiled on spring or spiral-so its name-, each spring measuring about one tenth of a millimeter. Appeared on Earth with the first living beings, it thrives in warm aquatic environments. It is found today in its natural state in the tropics in shallowless freshwater lakes, rich in trace elements.
Places and times of discovery: When the Europeans colonized America, they discovered that the Aztecs drew from the great Lake Texcoco, near the actual Mexico City, a kind of "mud" blue, with high nutritional value, they called tecuitlatl , it was the spirulina.
In Africa, tribes living in the Sahara harvest for a long time, in the Lake Chad, a similar substance, the dihe, consumed particularly by pregnant women and during periods of famine. By its high nutritional value and because it can be produced locally, spirulina is very interesting to fight against malnutrition.
Spirulina has been (re) discovered in Chad by French researchers in the fifties and the analysis made on it quickly showed that spirulina possesses a unique nutritional value, which the peoples of the region had experienced much earlier. Indeed, the algae is part of their diet for thousands of years and this explains their remarkable health, compare to neighboring peoples.
During the 1970’s, Spirulina has become popular in developed countries as nutritional supplement. "Farms" of production have been established particularly in Africa, India, Peru, Togo, China and Vietnam. In the 70’s, the world’s largest farm was located near Madras, in India, but it came too early! Today, because of its high cost value, some European countries, including France, begin to grow spirulina.
In the shops, spirulina is generally in the form of chips or a dried blue-green powder, in capsules or in tablets or in "spaghetti", form actually chosen for the production of Volontariat.
Nutritional Composition: Spirulina is low in calories, has a large amount of nutrients, in varying percentage, according to their geographical origin and the techniques used to culture and especially drying.
A good spirulina should contain, per 100 grams:
55 to 70 g proteins
Calories: 370 kcal or 1569 kJ
Carbohydrates: 13 grams
Proteins: 67 grams
Fats: 1.9 grams
Fibers: 0.9 grams
Vitamins: A, E, D, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B12, K, PP. Minerals and trace elements: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, sodium, potassium, selenium. Essential amino acids: all, including: cystine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanyne, threonine, and valine thrytophane. Essential fatty acids: Omega 3 and 6: Linolenic acid, gamma-linolenic acid.
The most important to remember: remarkable source of various carotenoids, including beta-carotene, source of iron, of gamma-linolenic acid (40 mg to 50 mg / 5 g), an unsaturated fatty acid omega-6, of phycocyanin (natural blue pigment used as food coloring that may have antioxidant activity) and also chlorophyll and small amounts of several minerals.
Benefits of Spirulina Here, a summary, from the abundant literature, of a number of beneficial effects of spirulina on health is shown: It protects from arthritis, multiple sclerosis, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, degenerative diseases; it protects the liver and the kidney, the brain against memory loss, due to age, etc..
Spirulina is used against diabetes, hypoglycemia, mineral or acid deficiencies, intestinal ulcers, constipation, hemorrhoids, depression, etc..
It helps to regenerate blood cells, it enhances the body’s resistance against toxins, it has an anti-oxidant effect, etc..
It gives energy and vitality, it enhances the health of the entire body.
Many consider Spirulina as a miracle product and one of the great "discoveries" of the 20th century.
