Spirulina is a highly popular dietary supplement consumed all over the world. It is packed with high concentrations of all the essential nutrients (especially proteins), antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. These help in building up a healthy human body as well as maintaining a good immune system. Hence, it is often labelled as “superfood”. Consumption of the same can help in boosting the energy level, brain function, the White Blood Cell count and antibody production. It also helps in reducing the inflammations in body.
The health benefits of spirulina had even been recognized by the ancient Aztec people. In modern times, NASA has recommended this “superfood” to be incorporated into the diet charts of the astronauts during their space missions. Even, there are plans to grow the photosynthetic microalga in the growth media-containing culture bags with the support of a diffusion system of cabin air. Thus, the air will also be enriched with O2 released by Spirulina. The microalga has already demonstrated a promising result by being comparatively more resistant to radiations than any other algae. However, its performance and stability (of nutritional composition) under the influence of factors like microgravity or volatiles in the spacecraft are still required to be checked.
Source and Production of Spirulina:
The functional food Spirulina is mainly obtained from the two species of prokaryotic cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) of the genus Spirulina (Synonym: Arthrospira) – Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima. The name ‘Spirulina’ is derived because of the spiral filamentous architecture of its cell. The algae can tolerate even the adverse conditions (temperature and alkalinity) while growth of the other algae is inhibited. Commercially, the alga is cultivated in open pond chain system under the sunlight (14-16 h/day). It grows well in alkaline and brackish water with pH level around 8.5-10.5. Optimum temperature (35-38℃) is maintained for the algal growth. Wheel is used to agitate the water. At the time of harvest, half of the pond’s depth is sieved out using screens. The remaining algal biomass is used as seed for the next cycle of cultivation. A clean product with a fresh taste is obtained after washing the biomass several times with fresh water. United States, Thailand, India, Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Burma and Chile are some of the leading commercial producers of spirulina.
Composition of Spirulina:
Spirulina demonstrates a number of features from the nutritional and therapeutic standpoints: a balanced protein composition, presence of rare essential lipids and fatty acids, beta-carotene, numerous minerals and vitamins including Vit – B12.
It has an unusually higher concentration of proteins (up to 70% of the dry weight) containing full complement of nine essential amino acids, though with somewhat reduced amounts of methionine, cystine and lysine, in comparison to other standard protein sources such as meat, eggs and milk. However, when compared to all standard plant protein sources such as legumes, spirulina is far more superior.
It contains lipid (5-8 % of the dry weight) of which majority is glycolipids (about 40%) along with a considerable amount of sulpholipids (2-5%) contributing towards its excellent therapeutic values. List of essential fatty acids in spirulina includes gamma-linolenic acid. Calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc are some of the major minerals available in it. The functional food is also a rich source of B-vitamins and Vit. E. Besides, it also contains several pigments, such as chlorophyll-a, xanthophyll, beta-carotene, echinenone, myxoxanthophyll, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, diatoxanthin, 3-hydroxyechinenone, beta-cryptoxanthin, oscillaxanthin and phycobiliproteins (c-phycocyanin and allophycocyanin). Most of these act as strong antioxidants.
Spirulina is good for consumption by both humans and animals. It promotes metabolic activities and immunity. In addition to that, there are also reports available on the anti-viral and anti-cancer properties of this “superfood”. The nutritional profile of this blue-green algae is particularly effective when combined with a healthy and balanced diet as part of a preventive strategy for self-care. 1 kg of Spirulina has the same nutrients obtained from about 1,000 kg of assorted vegetables.
Market for Spirulina – Some Facts:
Spirulina is commercially available in the form of tablet and powder under different trademarks. It was initially launched in the market during the period between 1970-1980. This was at a time when the market for food supplements had not been organized yet. However, companies of the current time have been stressing particularly on the quality aspect and at the same time, they are developing products with higher added value.
Components from spirulina are also sold to other industries involved in the production of food colours, fluorescent markers, enzymes, etc. Genetically modified spirulina is also being developed, such as spirulina with high iron, beta-carotene, zinc content. The main producers of this blue-green algae are located in Asia and the USA. China contributes more than 10% of the world production. Hainan Simai Enterprising Limited (Hainan, China) is one of the leading companies producing around 350 tonnes of Spirulina per year. Earthrise Nutritionals, a company located in California, USA, is also famous for its high-quality ‘Earthrise Californian Spirulina’. The Global Market value for Spirulina Products was approximately USD 348 million in 2021. It is projected to reach USD 779 million by 2026.
References:
1. https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2020/12/04/superfood-goes-to-space/ (Accessed: 20 March, 2022)
2. https://www.new-farmers.com/blogs/news/nasa-spirulina-space-superfood (Accessed: 20 March, 2022)
3. Khan, Z., Bhadouria, P., & Bisen, P. S. (2005). Nutritional and therapeutic potential of Spirulina. Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 6(5), 373-379.
4. Campanella, L.; Russo, M.V. and Avino, P. (2002). Free and total amino acid composition in blue-green algae. Annali di Chimica, 92(4), 343-352.
5. Liestianty, D., Rodianawati, I., Arfah, R. A., & Assa, A. (2019, April). Nutritional analysis of spirulina sp to promote as superfood candidate. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 509, No. 1, p. 012031). IOP Publishing.
6. https://www.alghepam.it/nutritional-composition-spirulina/ (Accessed: 20 March, 2022)
7. https://www.earthrise.com/origins-history (Accessed: 20 March, 2022)
8. https://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/spirulina-market (Accessed: 20 March, 2022)
About the Authors:
1. Mirza Absar Yousuf, B.Sc.
School of Agricultural Sciences,
Sharda University, Greater Noida, U.P., India.
2. *Dr. Swati Hazra,
Assistant Professor
School of Agricultural Sciences,
Sharda University, Greater Noida, U.P., India.
Email ID: swati.hazra@sharda.ac.in