A tiny water plant holds the promise of bringing about a sea change in your health
Japanese scientists look towards spirulina as the solution to the world's hunger problem. NASA considers it an excellent, compact space food for astronauts. The WHO has called it one of the greatest super foods on earth. And New Agers all over the world are rediscovering the wonders of spirulina.
In the USA, Christopher Hills, founder of the University of Trees, is convinced that the manna which the Hebrews ate in the desert belonged to the spirulina family. Hills has even appointed spirulina missionaries to distribute this miracle food.
The single-celled bluish-green water alga is believed to be the first form of plant life on earth and formed a part of man's early diet. But its rising popularity in the last couple of decades can be traced to a French anthropologist who found, earlier this century, that a plankton from Lake Chad in North Africa was behind the remarkably good health of the Kanembi tribe living on the lakeside. He took it back home to study its composition. What was 'dihe' to the Kanembis came to be known as spirulina, the word derived from the algae's spirally twisted filament-like structure.
From origin to content: 1 kg of spirulina, it is claimed, is the equivalent of 1,000 kg of assorted vegetables; 10 gm of spirulina contain 6.6 gm of protein (milk has 0.32 gm). In addition, it has no bad cholesterol, has 18 of the 22 amino acids the body needs, and is the richest source of beta-carotene, an antioxidant which combats free radicals. So where does that place spirulina? A dietician's delight, a perfect supplement to good living and health?
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