Spirulina, a nutrient-dense microscopic blue-green algae (cyanobacterium), ranks among the oldest life forms on Earth and played a key role in early oxygen production. Revered historically (e.g., by the Aztecs), it offers an exceptional nutritional profile, including high-quality protein (with all essential amino acids), vitamins (such as B vitamins, including some B12 forms, provitamin A, and E), minerals (notably iron in a highly bioavailable form), and potent bioactive compounds like phycocyanin (a powerful antioxidant pigment responsible for its deep green color).
While spirulina powder is common, fresh raw living spirulina preserves heat-sensitive nutrients and bioactive elements that are present in spirulina, leading much greater benefits. Fresh spirulina that has never been dried or heated has a neutral or mildly pleasant taste (especially in flavored versions), making it easy to incorporate daily, such as 2–4 tablespoons diluted in water for a refreshing drink. It digests readily, even for those with sensitive digestion, due to the absence of tough, insoluble fibers, and supports better nutrient absorption overall.
Modern life often involves stress, irregular eating, and nutrient depletion, contributing to fatigue, inflammation, and chronic issues. Spirulina acts as a natural concentrate of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, and essential nutrients, helping counteract these effects. Scientific reviews and clinical trials support its role in promoting well-being.
Here are 10 evidence-based reasons to include spirulina in your daily routine:
- Managing stress-related issues. Chronic stress increases oxidative damage and inflammation. Spirulina's pigments, especially phycocyanin, provide strong antioxidant protection. Studies show spirulina reduces markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, helping prevent stress from escalating into chronic problems. A randomized trial found spirulina supplementation improved resistance to mental and physical fatigue.
- Sustained energy without crashes. Unlike caffeine or sugar, spirulina delivers steady energy through complete proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that support natural energy production without depleting reserves. Users often report longer-lasting vitality and reduced hunger. Research links spirulina to reduced fatigue indices in men, with benefits noticeable within hours and sustained over weeks.
- Improving cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health. Poor diet burdens the heart and blood vessels. Multiple meta-analyses of randomized trials show spirulina significantly lowers total cholesterol, LDL (the "bad") cholesterol, and triglycerides while raising HDL (the "good") cholesterol - effects often seen after 8+ weeks of daily use. This supports healthier blood vessels, especially when vegetable intake is low.
- Supporting weight management. Spirulina aids metabolism, reduces appetite, and promotes fat loss, particularly with activity. Scientific reviews indicate it lowers body weight faster when engaging in physical activity, lowers BMI, and waist circumference, with benefits to those with metabolic syndrome (where weight loss is challenging). Low in calories and sugars, extremely nutrient-dense, it energizes without excess.
- Enhanced sports performance and recovery. Intense exercise causes muscle micro-damage and lactic acid buildup. Spirulina supports endurance and faster recovery by reducing oxidative stress and muscle damage markers (e.g., creatine kinase). Historical use by Aztecs for stamina aligns with modern findings: supplementation prevents exercise-induced inflammation and accelerates post-workout recovery.
- Helping normalize blood pressure. Often asymptomatic yet risky ("silent killer"), high blood pressure damages vessels over time. Meta-analyses confirm spirulina reduces systolic and diastolic pressure (especially in hypertensives), with effects from consistent use (e.g., 8–12 weeks). It complements standard approaches without noted major side effects.
- Combating iron deficiency and anemia. Iron deficiency affects many (especially women), causing fatigue. Spirulina's iron is highly bioavailable - better absorbed than from many plants (no interfering compounds like in spinach) - and supports red blood cell formation. Studies show it raises iron/ferritin levels, often alone or enhancing other supplements, with less digestive upset.
- Promoting digestive health and overall wellness. Poor digestion stems from stress, diet, etc. Spirulina eases irritation and reflux quickly, with lasting gut benefits from prebiotic-like effects (improving microbiota diversity and short-chain fatty acid production). It reduces gut permeability and inflammation, enhancing nutrient absorption and foundational well-being.
- Reducing inflammation through antioxidant power. Low-grade inflammation underlies fatigue, headaches, and diseases. Spirulina's phycocyanin and other compounds lower inflammatory markers (e.g., CRP, IL-6, TNF-α) and oxidative stress. Meta-analyses confirm significant reductions, with users noting effects in days—safe and non-medicinal.
- Ideal for vegetarians and vegans. Plant-based eaters benefit from spirulina's complete amino acids, B vitamins (including bioavailable B12 forms in some analyses), iron, antioxidants, and minerals.
If you have already tried spirulina powder and you were not satisfied with its taste, then definitely try our fresh, raw living spirulina. You may not believe it, but it really has NO taste!
Scientific studies used to prepare this article:
- A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study of spirulina supplementation on indices of mental and physical fatigue in men
Spirulina may increase people’s ability to resist mental and physical fatigue. This study tested that hypothesis in a randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled study in men. After 1 week, a 3 g/day dose of spirulina produced a small, but statistically significant increase in exercise output (Kcals consumed in 30 min exercise on a cross trainer machine). A mathematical based mental fatigue test showed improved performance 4 h after the first time of supplementation as well as 8 weeks later. Similarly, a subjective survey for a sense of physical and mental fatigue showed improvement within 4 h of the first supplementation as well as 8 weeks later. These results show that spirulina intake can affect fatigue in men. -
Ergogenic and antioxidant effects of spirulina supplementation in humans.
Purpose: Spirulina is a popular nutritional supplement that is accompanied by claims for antioxidant and performance-enhancing effects. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of spirulina supplementation on (i) exercise performance, (ii) substrate metabolism, and (iii) blood redox status both at rest and after exercise.
Results: Time to fatigue after the 2-h run was significantly longer after spirulina supplementation (2.05 +/- 0.68 vs 2.70 +/- 0.79 min). Ingestion of spirulina significantly decreased carbohydrate oxidation rate by 10.3% and increased fat oxidation rate by 10.9% during the 2-h run compared with the placebo trial. GSH levels were higher after the spirulina supplementation compared with placebo at rest and 24 h after exercise. TBARS levels increased after exercise after placebo but not after spirulina supplementation. Protein carbonyls, catalase, and TAC levels increased similarly immediately after and 1 h after exercise in both groups.
Conclusions: Spirulina supplementation induced a significant increase in exercise performance, fat oxidation, and GSH concentration and attenuated the exercise-induced increase in lipid peroxidation. -
Preventive effects of Spirulina platensis on skeletal muscle damage under exercise-induced oxidative stress
The effects of spirulina supplementation on preventing skeletal muscle damage on untrained human beings were examined. Sixteen students volunteered to take Spirulina platensis in addition to their normal diet for 3-weeks. Blood samples were taken after finishing the Bruce incremental treadmill exercise before and after treatment. The results showed that plasma concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly decreased after supplementation with spirulina (P < 0.05). The activity of blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) was significantly raised after supplementation with spirulina or soy protein (P < 0.05). Both of the blood glutathione peroxidaes (GPx) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were significantly different between spirulina and soy protein supplementation by an ANCOVA analysis (P < 0.05). In addition, the lactate (LA) concentration was higher and the time to exhaustion (TE) was significantly extended in the spirulina trail (P < 0.05). These results suggest that ingestion of S. platensis showed preventive effect of the skeletal muscle damage and that probably led to postponement of the time of exhaustion during the all-out exercise.
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The antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory activities of Spirulina: an overview
Spirulina is a species of filamentous cyanobacteria that has long been used as a food supplement. In particular, Spirulina platensis and Spirulina maxima are the most important. Thanks to a high protein and vitamin content, Spirulina is used as a nutraceutical food supplement, although its other potential health benefits have attracted much attention. Oxidative stress and dysfunctional immunity cause many diseases in humans, including atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, and hypertension. Thus, the antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory activities of these microalgae may play an important role in human health. Here, we discuss the antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory activities of Spirulina in both animals and humans, along with the underlying mechanisms. In addition, its commercial and regulatory status in different countries is discussed as well. Spirulina activates cellular antioxidant enzymes, inhibits lipid peroxidation and DNA damage, scavenges free radicals, and increases the activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase. Notably, there appears to be a threshold level above which Spirulina will taper off the antioxidant activity. Clinical trials show that Spirulina prevents skeletal muscle damage under conditions of exercise-induced oxidative stress and can stimulate the production of antibodies and up- or downregulate the expression of cytokine-encoding genes to induce immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory responses. The molecular mechanism(s) by which Spirulina induces these activities is unclear, but phycocyanin and β-carotene are important molecules. Moreover, Spirulina effectively regulates the ERK1/2, JNK, p38, and IκB pathways. This review provides new insight into the potential therapeutic applications of Spirulina and may provide new ideas for future studies
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Phycocyanin: Anti-inflammatory effect and mechanism
As the host defense response to various injuries and pathogens in the body, inflammation can remove damaged cells and pathogens in the host organism and protect the body. However, excessive inflammation may cause damage to normal tissue cells while removing pathogens, which in turn cause numerous inflammatory diseases and adversely affect the human health. Phycocyanin is an active substance extracted from algae; it has outstanding antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, and can effectively inhibit various diseases caused by inflammation. This review systematically summarizes recent applications of phycocyanin against various inflammatory diseases in lung, liver, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular systems. In addition, possible anti-inflammatory action pathways of phycocyanin are reviewed to canvass the anti-inflammatory mechanism. At last, based on the existing research, phycocyanobilin in phycocyanin is proposed as a bilirubin analog by inducing heme oxygenase 1 in vivo to suppress inflammation.
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The Bioactivities of Phycocyanobilin from Spirulina
Phycocyanobilin (PCB) is a linear open-chain tetrapyrrole chromophore that captures and senses light and a variety of biologicalactivities, such as anti-oxidation, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory. In this paper, the biological activities of PCB are reviewed,and the related mechanism of PCB and its latest application in disease treatment are introduced. PCB can resist oxidation byscavenging free radicals, inhibiting the activity of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase, anddelaying the activity of antioxidant enzymes. In addition, PCB can also be used as an excellent anti-inflammatory agent toreduce the proinflammatory factors IL-6 and IFN-γ and to up-regulate the production of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 byinhibiting the inflammatory signal pathways NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Due to the above biologicalactivities of phycocyanobilin PCB, it is expected to become a new effective drug for treating various diseases, such as COVID-19complications, atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis (MS), and ischaemic stroke (IS).
