Spirulina: Wonder cure or quack medicine?

My daughter has recently gotten into taking Spirulina, which is a type of blue algae found in tropical places like Hawaii for instance. It is supposed to be great for all sorts of ills and I'm just curious what others have heard or what opinion they have. She has only provided me with positive info (from websites that want you to buy the product). I'm looking for pros and cons. Thanks!!

“Probably most of . . . [the vitamin B12 content of blue-green algae] is due to the fact that the stuff is grown in . . . lakes . . . in Mexico that are contaminated with fecal matter; and the feces, of course, animals feces, have considerable B12 in them. . . . I suspect that's where most of it comes from, the stuff being not thoroughly washed before it's dried. . . . Spirulina is the biggie, of course. . . . Spirulina is a blue-green [alga], but not all blue-green algae are spirulina.”

Above passage was from this site

Swedish Medical Center info

Opinion from another doctor

Another page about questionable claims

It seems the jury is still out; not enough evidence exists so far to support either the efficacy or any inherent danger.

I'd act with caution here, and remember the age-old wisdom: If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is.



[edit on 16-8-2005 by Tinkleflower]

Thanks Tinkleflower. Got some good info from your post! And did some further research of my own and read some pretty nasty stuff about what researchers have found in samples of Spirulina...things like remains of flies, ticks, maggots......etc.....should I go on?? Pretty nasty. No wonder lots of duped souls are getting sick of this garbage!!

[edit on 17-8-2005 by XanaX]

Yeah, and that's part of the problem with supplements....because they're not regulated, there's no guarantee as to their purity.

It's that whole doublesided issue - if the FDA is allowed to regulate 'em, we take the risk of never being allowed to obtain any supplement they deem as ineffective. And if we keep them unregulated, we truly don't know exactly what it is we're taking...

Not an easy matter, at all.

I think it was the human doo-doo part that turned me off, really. I mean I don't mind the odd bug (chocolate-covered crickets, anyone?). But I have to draw the line somewhere, yanno?

Yes..."fecal matter" is a definite turn off for me as well. Why don't we just have fecal matter shakers at home like salt and pepper. "Oh could you please pass the fecal matter?"......nasty