Using Spirulina to Help Fight Malnutrition

Using Spirulina to Help Fight Malnutrition

Wild spirulina grows wild in the alkaline lakes of Mexico and on the African continent, although it is commercially grown and harvested all over the world. It reproduces quickly, and because the individual organisms tend to clump together, it's easy to harvest.

Commercial production of spirulina is estimated to reach 220,000 tons by the year 2020. Japan is the largest producer of spirulina, as well as the largest consumer, however its use is growing in India, as well.

For instance, the organization Antenna India provides spirulina “sweets” to children at risk of malnutrition and offer low-cost spirulina to women in self-help groups, who can then sell the superfood for profit while raising awareness about malnutrition.3

Research has shown that children who received a spirulina supplement daily five days a week for two months had better nutritional status and improved intellectual status compared to those who did not.4

This food is so nutritionally dense, in fact, that NASA and The European Space Agency are researching the benefits of incorporating spirulina into astronauts’ diets on spaceships and on Mars.5

Even beyond nutrition, spirulina offers multiple advantages to the environment and those who cultivate it. For instance, producing spirulina requires 10 times less water than other vegetables, and harvests occur year-round. And according to Antenna India, compared to soy, spirulina has a 20-fold greater harvest of protein per acre.6

Further, spirulina is easy to grow and reproduces itself with a rapid growth rate of about 30 percent a day.7 It offers benefits for workers, too, especially compared to other traditional jobs, such as working on rice paddies. According to development professional Amy Sheppey:8

“The women cultivating spirulina are paid a fair wage – about double in comparison to rice paddy workers – and the job is much less physically strenuous.

What’s more, the work is not dependent on good weather conditions and the women are not left vulnerable through intermittent employment. Considering spirulina’s numerous benefits, I question to this day why it is not used more widely across the development sector.”

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资料来源：

1. https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/09/29/spirulina-benefits.aspx
2. https://dxnhealthinfo.blogspot.com/2015/12/dxn-spirulina.html
3. https://dxnhealthinfo.blogspot.com/2018/10/SpirulinainClinicalPractice.html
4. https://dxnhealthinfo.blogspot.com/2018/10/spirulina-luxury-health-food.html