Spirulina FAQ's

How does Spirulina grow?

There are four major conditions for growing Spirulina.

1. Tropical weather
2. Strong sunshine
3. Pure water resource
4. Pollution free environment

It is not possible to grow Commercial Spirulina culture in a cold or temperate area. Spirulina needs consistent high temperature which helps it’s growth. Spirulina will not grow anywhere that has constant low temperature (under 25 degrees). Under 20c degrees Spirulina will stop reproducing and die in a short time.

Spirulina absorbs sunshine and then creates a reaction in it's cells. When this reaction starts, Spirulina will produce the nutrients in the cell and will convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Strong sunshine helps Spirulina produce more nutrients.

Spirulina grows in alkaline saline water. Because Spirulina easily absorbs nutrients from water, if the water contains pollution or heavy metals, these will be highly concentrated in the Spirulina cell. If this happens, then this kind of Spirulina is no longer suitable for human consumption.

What does Spirulina contain?

With over 100 nutrients, Spirulina is often described as the most complete food source in the world. The American National Aeronautical and Space Agency includes it in their astronauts diet and plans to grow Spirulina in it’s space station. It’s easy to see why.

Japan has some good examples of some Japanese seniors who have only relied on Spirulina and water for more than 20 years showing how good is Spirulina for the human body.

How should Spirulina be stored?

High temperature, moisture or pollution will reduce the beneficial effects of Spirulina.

1. Buy and keep no more than 6 months worth.
2. After opening the packaging we strongly recommend you use the product within three months.
3. After usage, ensure you reseal the packaging as soon as possible.
4. Keep the product away from any possible heat source.
5. Keep the product away from sun or any exposure to strong light.

Who should take Spirulina?

1. Children who don’t like or get enough vegetables and or have an imbalanced food intake.
2. Teenagers during their rapid growing period need a sufficient injection of nutrients. Spirulina is ideal for this.
3. Pregnant mums who need extra nutrients.
4. Seniors who have difficulty in having reasonable average 3 meals per day.
5. Sport lovers or athletics who need extra nutrients to keep their energy levels up.
6. Modern busy people who don't have the time to eat good meals.
7. Patients or people who need high volumes of nutrients to assist recovery (please consult your doctor)
8. Vegetarians who require extra nutrient sources

Who shouldn't take too much Spirulina?

1. People with hyperparathyroidism
2. People who have serious allergies to seafood or seaweed.
3. Patients currently experiencing high fever.

How much Spirulina should be taken?

We suggest 5~10 tablets a day for adults, 3~5 tablets for children under 12 years old. If you have special requirements for extra nutrients, please consult your chemist or your health practitioner.

How should Spirulina be taken?

1. Take only with cold or warm water, (not juice, soft drinks, coffee or tea)
2. After taking Spirulina, avoid alcohol, soft drinks or coffee for 30 minutes as these drinks can destroy some of the Spirulina's nutrients and enzymes
3. Take at least an extra half litre of water a day
4. It doesn't matter if you take it once a day or twice a day, so long as you take enough for a day.

Recommend dosage for adults is 5 ~ 10 tablets a day, children under 12 should take 3 ~5 tablets a day.

What are the side effects of Spirulina?

Spirulina is a totally natural product and will not normally cause any problems to the body. Even if too much is taken, there will be no harm to the body, but doing this is a waste.

However some people may experience some of the following symptoms after taking Spirulina;

1. Slight fever due to the body's need to burn the extra protein from Spirulina
2. Slight dizziness. If this occurs, take less of the product. If the symptom does not improve please stop taking Spirulina
3. Thirst and constipation. After taking a high volume of Spirulina we recommend at least an extra 1/2 litre of water per day to help our body absorb the Spirulina
4. Stomach ache
5. Skin itch or slight body rash

Spirulina: a food? or a medicine?

As we all know, some of our illnesses are caused by having insufficient nutrients in our body. These illnesses are just the symptoms to show us that we may be lacking in some nutrients. If we replenish these nutrients in time, the symptoms usually disappear. If not, we can lower the function of our immune system causing further problems.

In most cases people will go to consult their doctor and may be prescribed some medicine.

Spirulina is not a medicine, but when used as a good source of supplementary food, you can avoid nutrient deficiencies causing illness

In most cases people will go to consult their doctor and may be prescribed some medicine.

The topic of Spirulina is currently quite hot for it's therapeutic applications. Medical research has already shown that Spirulina can provide benefits to our body. (Refer to our references section.)

Spirulina can help you to maintain areasonable levels of nutrients in your body, which will in turn give you less of the chance to get sick.

Spirulina Vegetable protein vs animal protein

Spirulina contains more than 60% vegetable protein, which is much higher than fish, pork, or beef (which contains about 15 ~20 %).Animal protein is a much bigger molecule than vegetable protein, and is much harder to for our system to digest.

Most modern people overindulge in animal protein, by eating fish, beef, pork etc. When too much animal protein is eaten, it is deposited in our body as fat. Too much fat will cause high cholesterol levels and may impact our heart and blood vessels.

Vegetable protein is water soluble, and is much smaller than animal protein. If you eat too much vegetable protein, it is simply discharged by your system as waste and not stored as fat.

Animal protein is a much bigger molecule than vegetable protein, and is much harder to for our system to digest.

 

Spirulina & Heavy metals

Spirulina easily absorbs the nutrients from any possible source. Like putting a dry sponge in water, Spirulina will take in just about everything from the water and store it in their cells.

So, taking Spirulina from polluted areas may result in some negative results as the Spirulina will absorb all the heavy metals from the growing environment.

Possible sources of pollution include;

1. Air
2. Water
3. Dirt or Dust
4. Feed

Air pollution will bring lead, mercury etc. All commercial Spirulina is grown in open areas,for maximum production yield.

Water pollution is another issue. Most Spirulina production sites need plenty of water to compensate for high evaporation. If the water contains any heavy metals which will accumulate in the growing system, then the Spirulina will absorb it. Water pollution is a big issue as even the water pumped from the sea or surface can contain certain amounts of possible pollutants which will eventually accumulate in Spirulina. This is why some other brands suggested that infants or pregnant women should not take Spirulina.

Our company, based in Darwin in the Northern Territory , uses only pure crystal clear mineral water. Having this exceptional growing environment, our Spirulina has the lowest heavy metal content in comparison with any other Spirulina product on the market, with almost no heavy metals at all.

For a detailed growing water analysis report please click on the link below.

Water Analysis results (pdf 248k)

The heavy metal international guide line is no more than 20 ppm, Australian Spirulina is consistently less than 0.5 ppm (Hg, Cd, Pb, As).

Australian Spirulina
Best Quality Spirulina in the world.

Australian Spirulina, The worlds most pure Spirulina compared to 24 other products around the world. (inclusive USA, UK,Canada, Japan, New Zealand, India)

King Saud University carried out a research

"Heavy metal analysis in commercial Spirulina
products for human consumption" on 2013.

This study reveals the concentrations of six typical heavy metals/minerals ( Nickel , Zinc , Mercury , Platinum , Magnesium , and Manganese ) in 25 Spirulina products commercialized worldwide.

The result shows that Australian Spirulina (TAAU Australia) beats the rest in terms of purity.

The Report published on Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences on 2013

Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences Volume 20, Issue 4 October 2013, Pages 383–388 ( click for link)

click link above for original article.

Complete PDF downlaod (click for down load)

 

Click link below for more details:

Best Quality Spirulina in the world

Australian Spirulina will always be proud of our quality, and this is another solid piece of evidence showing that our Spirulina is of the best quality in the world.

 

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