Spirulina extract is also called blue Spirulina, and the main component is phycocyanin. BINMEI’s Spirulina extract is made in a gentle physical way, without any chemical additives, only water is added as an additive.
Spirulina is one of the most common algae on Earth and has been growing on the planet for 3.5 billion years. The complex adversity of nature endows Spirulina with unique biological active functions, which makes Spirulina have rich effects. What makes Spirulina different is the unique phycocyanin in spirulina. Phycocyanin is not only a good protein, but also has many benefits such as anti-cancer, anti-oxidation and moisturizing.
Benefit 1: Superior quality protein and amino acid composition
The protein content of Spirulina is about 60% ~ 70%, and phycobilin accounted for about 40% of the total protein, mainly phycocyanin. The amino acid composition of phycocyanin is complete, and the essential amino acid of the human body accounts for 37.2% of the total. Therefore, phycocyanin is a high-quality protein with rich nutritional value.
The researchers found that phycocyanin had a total of 334 amino acids, of which 131 (39%), were associated with the COPD special diet. Not only that, amino acids can regulate physiological function, maintain normal metabolism, is an essential substance in the human body.
Ps: (What is COPD? Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, refers to a group of diseases that cause airflow blockage and breathing-related problems. It includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. COPD makes breathing difficult for the 16 million Americans who have this disease.)
Benefit 2: Helps the human body fight cancer and rehabilitation after cancer
Phycocyanin is best known to consumers not only as a natural pigment but also for its powerful anti-cancer properties. Numerous studies have shown that phycocyanin exerts anti-cancer activity by blocking the tumor cell cycle, inducing tumor cell apoptosis and autophagy, thereby phycocyanin can serve as a promising anti-cancer agent. Phycocyanin: A Potential Drug for Cancer Treatment. J Cancer. 2017; 8(17): 3416–3429.
Phycocyanin can not only inhibit the expansion of cancer cells but also be involved in adjuvant therapy for cancer patients. In 1986, confident phycocyanin, developed by Japan’s Kangpai AIDS Research Institute and produced by CONFIDENCE Algae Nutrition Food Company, was used as a rehabilitation drug and nutritional food for cancer patients and leukemia patients and achieved outstanding complementary effects.
Benefit 3: Increased immunity
Phycocyanin may have a regulatory effect on the immune system, reducing some of the body’s overreaction and stimulating when the body is weak. Phycocyanin can promote animal blood cell regeneration, improve lymphocyte activity and lymphatic system to improve immune function, and comprehensively enhance the disease resistance of the body.
Benefit 4: Super powerful antioxidant
Phycocyanin is also a powerful antioxidant that is often overlooked. In fact, phycocyanin’s antioxidant activity is 20 times greater than vitamin C, 16 times greater than vitamin E, and 70 times greater than SOD. Phycocyanin protects phospholipids in cell membranes and connective tissues. Phycocyanin also preserves superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione, and peroxidase, antioxidants produced by our bodies whose production and effectiveness decrease with age.
So phycocyanin is also used to prevent aging.
Benefit 5: Benefits stem cell differentiation to help improve human vitality and muscle injury after exercise.
Phycocyanin is an ideal supplement for daily health for both professional athletes and the general public. He’s perfect for sports people and older people who want to stay young. Phycocyanin helps improve your body’s vitality by promoting stem cell differentiation and replenishing your body’s energy, which is very helpful when you’re tired. At the same time, because of its support for the immune system, phycocyanin can also help boost the body’s resistance, improving muscle damage and fatigue after exercise.
Benefits 6: Promotes detoxification and protection in the human body
Phycocyanin can effectively reduce the toxicity of chemicals (heavy metals, drugs) in the body. With the development of society and the progress of science and technology, the natural environment and human living environment become more and more complex. When scientists detected heavy metal residues in krill in the deep sea of Antarctica, how to promote human detoxification becomes particularly important. Phycocyanin has the ability to flush stationary toxins out of the body, thereby preventing them from being deposited into human tissues and disrupting their function. Clinical trials have shown that phycocyanin can effectively reduce the occurrence of kidney stones, remove heavy metal residues in the body, and lower cholesterol.
Benefits 7: Anti-aging and moisturizing
Clinical trials have shown that phycocyanin itself is a protein that helps to retain skin moisture, and the results of a recent clinical trial confirm this conclusion.
In this clinical study, 40 subjects in the test diet group and 38 subjects in the placebo group were analyzed. Adult women (20-65 years old) were divided into a test food group containing phycocyanin and a placebo group (consuming a food group without phycocyanin) and asked to consume the food daily. We measured the amount of water loss from the skin, which is an indicator of skin barrier function (moisturizing power).
As a result, the test diet group containing phycocyanin significantly reduced the amount of moisture loss from the skin after 8 weeks.
Benefits 8: Protect women’s ovaries
According to a new study from 2020, Phycocyanin can improve fertility by partially increasing ovarian and oocyte quality in obese female mice and provides a new strategy for clinically treating obesity-related infertility in females.
Other Benefits
Phycocyanin has also been shown to have significant effects on leukemia, diabetes, liver, and clearing inflammation in the body due to its high nutritional content and efficacy. Therefore, phycocyanin is not only used as a natural colorant in food and beverage but also as an ideal choice for dietary supplements and antitumor drugs.
Conclusion
Phycocyanin evolved billion years before chlorophyll and in fact, is considered to be the precursor of both chlorophyll and hemoglobin. Compare to other algae and plants using chlorophyll, phycocyanin capture light photons in a much wider wavelength spectrum.
Its properties are manifold and cross-organism but it is mainly designed and used for its invigorating characteristics of the immune system. It’s such properties and characteristics that cause phycocyanin to be extracted from the spirulina algae and be used as a supplement directed to help and assist the immune system.
In addition to its use as a natural pigment, consumers are now increasingly seeing phycocyanin in dietary supplement forms such as phycocyanin tablets and capsules.
