Inositol, Phycocyanin, Zeaxanthin, Chlorophyll a, Nucleic Acid and SOD, etc.
Is Spirulina the “King of Superfoods”?
Superfoods – the Californian secret to beauty and health
Superfoods are already a familiar friend to celebrities outside Japan.
Definition of superfood
・The food must have a good nutritional balance and a higher nutritional value than general foods. Alternatively, the food must contain a certain amount of nutritional and health ingredients.
・It is an intermediate product between general foods and supplements, and has both uses as cooking ingredients and health foods.
Spirulina has been selected as one of the 10 Primary Superfoods, showing that it is a leader amongst superfoods.
Characteristics１：Rich in proteins, with an excellent amino-acid balance.
Protein content: over 55% (Reference: 5% protein in Tofu, 3% in milk, 23% in processed cheese,18% in ground beef)
Characteristics 2: Approximately 8% is dietary fiber.
Dietary fiber is a generic name used to refer to the group ofpolysaccharides which cannot be digested by the enzymes of thehuman digestive tract.
Spirulina contains 4-8% dietary fiber, of which more than 40%consists of hard-to-digest, water-soluble polysaccharides.
Characteristics 3: Contains three kinds of phyto-pigments.
Green pigment = Chlorophyll a
Orange-yellow pigments = Carotenoid-based pigments
Blue pigment = Phycocyanin
Characteristics 4: Rich in β-carotene, and useful for supplementing vitamin-Bcomplex.
Contains 50 times the amount of β-carotene found in spinach. Contains vitamins B1, B2, and B6.
Characteristics 5: Suited for supplementing iron, calcium and other minerals.
Spirulina contains a variety of minerals, including iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and cobalt. However, iodine, which is abundant in seaweed, is not detected in spirulina, so it can be consumed by people on iodine restriction diets.
Characteristics 6: Contains a polyunsaturated fatty acid called “gamma-linolenicacid” (GLA).
In addition to linoleic acid and arachidonic acid, another essentialfatty acid, called “gamma-linolenic acid,” is contained a lot (as much as 1.3%), more than in other algal sources.
Characteristics 7: High digestive absorption rate, enabling nutritional contents to be effectively utilized.
Nutritional components taken into the body can demonstrate theirvalue only when they have been properly digested and absorbed.
Since the cellular walls of spirulina are thin and easily broken,spirulina has a digestive absorption rate at 95% according to theresults of animal tests, even without any wall-fracturing processing.
Sample composition analysis of Spirulina powder (per 100g of sample)
Spirulina
