With this short article, we will slowly get into the microalgae’s world, trying to understand what they are, how they reproduce and the way in which they can be made use of in the nutritional, pharmaceutical and cosmetic field. We will also analyze the characteristics of Spirulina and Chlorella that are the two microalgae used by Algàdemy to make their food supplements.
With Microalgae we usually refer to unicellular algae: a more correct classification could be made, but for the purpose of this article a detailed classification is not needed.
Microalgae are unicellular organism, meaning that they present only one cell. Depending on the species they can live both in salty and fresh water and they are photosynthetic, which means that they can produce carbo dioxide and synthetize the sugar they use as source of energy. Microalgae also have the ability to store light in the form of biophoton that can be described as “light and energy concentrate” which can control the biological functions of cells.
Microalgae are rich in proteins, vitamins, trace elements, polyunsaturated fatty acids and chlorophyll. Spirulina contains also phycocyanin as we will see later. Thanks to the high level of nutritional values, microalgae are considered as superfood and the consumption of Spirulina has been highly suggested by OMS. More precisely, it is IIMSAM (Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition) that has the duty to spread scientific knowledge regarding microalgae and to promote the use of Spirulina to decries malnutrition in poor/underdeveloped countries.
What brought the attention of studies on microalgae are not just their nutritional features, but also the nutraceutical ones. Nutraceutical features are the beneficial effects that nutrients have on humans’ health.
The cosmetic features are not to be forgotten. The activity of some active ingredients (the ones that are highly antioxidant are a good example) can find their way in this field that is constantly expanding.
Dr. Fabrizio Ferretti
Pharmacist
