WELLNESS PRODUCTS

For the home

Books

Herbs

Music

Personal
Care

Services

Tapes

Travel

Videos

Vitamins

Ask the Doctor about Spirulina

by Steve Ottariano, R.Ph., Author, Medicinal Herbal Therapy

What is the nutritional value of the so-called super food, Spirulina?

Spirulina is one species of single celled plants also known as blue-green algae. Many scientists believe that the microalgea may have been some of the first forms of life that existed on this planet. They contain abundant amounts of B-12, as well as essential fatty acids which may be of benefit to some people with MS.

Spirulina is also loaded with vitamins, minerals and vegetable proteins, and should pose no problem to anyone who wants to take them.

There was a study published last year in the Swedish Journal of Rheumatology that found normal serum concentrations in the blood of B-12 in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, but when they tested their cerebral spinal fluid, ALL patients B-12 levels were low and their homocystiene levels were elevated. After they put them on B-12 and B vitamin supplements, all had a remarkable improvement in their energy. It just goes along with the fact that we should treat the patient, not the blood tests.