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Nutrición Hospitalaria ISSN: 0212-1611 info@nutriciónhospitalaria.com Grupo Aula Médica España Gutiérrez-Salmeán, Gabriela; Fabila-Castillo, Luis; Chamorro-Cevallos, Germán Nutritional and toxicological aspects of Spirulina (Arthrospira) Nutrición Hospitalaria, vol. 32, núm. 1, 2015, pp. 34-40 Grupo Aula Médica Madrid, España Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=309239661006 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Nutr Hosp. 2015;32(1):34-40 ISSN 0212-1611 • CODEN NUHOEQ S.V.R. 318 Revisión Nutritional and toxicological aspects of Spirulina (Arthrospira) Gabriela Gutiérrez-Salmeán1, Luis Fabila-Castillo2 and Germán Chamorro-Cevallos2 1Laboratorio de Investigación Integral Cardiometabólica. Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación. Escuela Superior de Medicina, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México D.F. 2Departamento de Farmacia. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México D.F. México. Abstract ASPECTOS NUTRICIONALES Y TOXICOLÓGICOS DE SPIRULINA (ARTHROSPIRA) Undernutrition constitutes a public health problem particularly in developing countries. The utilization of algae, particularly Spirulina, as a functional food was suggested Resumen decades ago due to the fact that it is not only a protein-dense La desnutrición constituye un problema de salud pú- food source, but because its amino acid profile is considered blica, fundamentalmente en los países en desarrollo. El as of high biologic-value protein content. Spirulina uso de algas, particularmente Spirulina, como alimento provides essential fats (e.g., gamma-linolenic oleic acids), funcional para combatir dicha patología se propuso des- concomitant to low content nucleic acids. It also has an de hace algunas décadas debido a que estos alimentos no exceptionally high content of vitamin B , is a good source of 12 solo son fuentes alimentarias de alta densidad proteica, beta-carotene, iron, calcium and phosphorous. Moreover, sino que también ofrecen un perfil de aminoácidos de alto Spirulina has also proven to have good acceptance as of its valor biológico. Además, Spirulina provee ácidos grasos organoleptic properties (thus making it a possible prospect esenciales (p. ej., el gamma linolénico), concomitante con for food or a nutrition supplement) and it has not exhibited un bajo aporte de ácidos nucleicos. También tiene un con- neither acute nor chronic toxicities, making it safe for tenido excepcionalmente alto de vitamina B12, es conside- human consumption. rada una buena fuente de betacaroteno, hierro, calcio y (Nutr Hosp. 2015;32:34-40) fósforo. Más aún, se ha demostrado que Spirulina tiene una buena aceptación organoléptica, lo que le confiere un DOI:10.3305/nh.2015.32.1.9001 gran potencial para considerarse como suplemento nu- Key words: Arthrospira. Functional foods. Nutritional tricional y, finalmente, no se han reportado toxicidades value. Spirulina. Toxicological profile. crónicas ni agudas, haciéndola segura para el consumo humano. (Nutr Hosp. 2015;32:34-40) DOI:10.3305/nh.2015.32.1.9001 Palabras clave: Alimentos funcionales. Arthrospira. Perfil Abbreviations Introduction BV: biological value. Undernutrition is the outcome of insufficient food DC: digestibility coefficient. intake, resulting in a decadent nutritional status cha- g: gram. racterized by lower weight and/or height that those ex- GLA: gamma linolenic acid. pected for one’s age1. Such condition, being frequently kg: kilogram. related to protein deficiency, constitutes a public heal- mg: miligram. th problem all over the world, but particularly in deve- NPU: net protein utilization. loping countries2. PER: protein efficiency ratio. In the interest of developing novel more effective SOD: superoxide dismutase. protein sources for preventing/reversing malnutrition, increasing attention has been turned to microalgae. Correspondence: Germán Chamorro-Cevallos. Single cell protein, i.e., crude or refined sources of Departamento de Farmacia. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas. protein that originates from microorganisms such as Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Avenida Wilfrido Massieu s/n. bacteria, yeasts, fungi or algae3, represent an attractive Unidad Adolfo López Mateos. Del. Gustavo A. Madero. 07738 México, D.F., (México). offer to many industries (e.g., fuel, cosmetic, therapeu- E-mail: [email protected] tic), including the feed, food and nutritional ones4,5. Recibido: 28-III-2015. The possible utilization of algae as a nonconventional Aceptado: 24-IV-2015. protein source was suggested some decades ago6. Since 34 006_9001 Aspectos nutricionales y toxicologicos de spirulina.indd 34 11/06/15 15:58 then, several types of algae have been tested for this pur- health-promoting properties and/or reduce the risk of pose and, although toxicity problems have been reported disease beyond its nutritional functions13. Moreover, for some species, promising results have been demons- Spirulina has also proven to have good acceptance as trated for others. Among the latter, we have Spirulina. of its organoleptic properties (thus making it a possible Spirulina (Arthrospira) is a microscopic blue-green prospect for food or a nutrition supplement) and it has algae –or cyanobacteria– from the Oscillateriaceae fa- not exhibited neither acute nor chronic toxicities, ma- mily. It naturally grows in alkaline and warm media; in king it safe for human consumption14,15. the sea and fresh water of Asia, Africa, Europe, South The objective of the present paper was to systemati- and North America7. In Mexico, the Texcoco lake used cally review the nutritional and toxicological properties to be abundant in the subclass S. maxima and there is of Spirulina, since scarce information has been repor- evidence that it was used as food –called tecuitlatl– ted, although some pharmacological activities –mainly during prehispanic times and it was, later, during the those related to the algae’s antioxidant and enzyme in- conquest, harvested from the lake, dried and sold for hibitor capacity– were reviewed several years ago16,17. human consumption8,9. Unfortunately, this practice was later lost with time. In terms of nutrition, Spirulina is a rich food source Nutritional composition of macro- and micronutrients including high quality protein, iron, gama-linolenic acid, vitamins, mine- Spirulina composition may vary according to the rals, sulfated polysaccharides and phycocanin10,11. (El- culturing conditions, and the methods of analysis. Ta- Baky, 2008; Chu, 2010). Hence Spirulina is of great ble I shows the results obtained by a third party labo- interest as it offers the possibility of being used as a ratory and by Earthrise Nutritionals LLC (CA, U.S.A) functional food12. This term refers to those foods that in terms of macronutrients, vitamins, minerals and have proven to aid specific body functions, yielding phytonutrients. Table I Nutritional profile of Spirulina Powder (composition by 100 g) Macronutrients Vitamins Calories 373 Vitamin A (as β-carotene)b 352.000 IU Total fat (g) 4.3 Vitamin K 1090 mcg Saturated fat 1.95 Thiamine HCL (Vitamin B1) 0.5 mg Polyunsaturated fat 1.93 Rivoflavin (Vitamin B2) 4.53 mg Monounsaturated fat 0.26 Niacin (Vitamine B3) 14.9 mg Cholesterol < 0.1 Vitamin B6 (Pyridox. HCL) 0.96 mg Total carbohydrate (g) 17.8 Vitamin B12 162 mcg Dietary fiber 7.7 Sugars 1.3 Minerals Lactose < 0.1 Calcium 468 mg Protein B 63 Iron 87.4 mg Essential amino acids (mg) Phosphorus 961 mg Histidine 1000 Iodine 142 mcg Isoleucine 3500 Magnesium 319 mg Leucine 5380 Zinc 1.45 mg Lysine 2960 Selenium 25.5 mcg Methionine 1170 Cooper 0.47 mg Phenylalanine 2750 Manganese 3.26 mg Threonine 2860 Chromium <400 mcg Tryptophan 1090 Potassium 1,660 mg Valine 3940 Sodium 641 mg Non-essential amino acids (mg) Alanine 4590 Phytonutrients Arginine 4310 Phycocyanin (mean)b 17.2% Aspartic acid 5990 Chlorophyll (mean)b 1.2% Cystine 590 Superoxide dismutase (SOD) 531,000 IU Glutamic acid 9130 Gamma linolenic acid (GLA) 1080 mg Glycine 3130 Total carotenoids (mean)b 504 mg Proline 2380 β-carotene (mean)b 211 mg Serine 2760 Zeaxanthin 101 mg Tyrosine 2500 a Most data are based on recent analysis by third-party laboratory. b In Earthrise Nutritional LLC. Nutritional and toxicological aspects of Nutr Hosp. 2015;32(1):34-40 35 Spirulina (Arthrospira) 006_9001 Aspectos nutricionales y toxicologicos de spirulina.indd 35 11/06/15 15:58 Protein and Amino Acids Table II Protein values of Spirulina as compared Spirulina’s protein content ranges between 60 to to the gold standard 70% of its dry weight. This is an exceptional propor- Reference tion since the vast majority of plant-based foods (even % of the Characteristic Spirulina protein the ones that are known to be “good protein sources”) reference contain only about 35%18. In fact, C-phycocyanin, a (casein) molecule which contains phycocyanobilin, an homo- Biologic value 75 87 86.20 log of biliverdin19, is one of the major proteins present Net protein utilization 62 83 74.69 in Spirulina, accounting for about 20% of algae’s dry weight20. Digestibility 85 95 89.47 In addition to the quantity, it is also important to Protein efficiency 1.9 2.5 76.00 assess the protein’s quality, which is determined by the contents, proportion, and availability of the pro- tein’s amino acids21. Spirulina provides a complete
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